Vegetarian Festival

This morning  I went to a street processional that was part of the Vegetarian Festival.  The Vegetarian Festival is a Chinese holiday that took root in Phuket in the 1800s when there were many Chinese tin miners.  During  the procession,  the spirit medium performs acts of self mutilization through those involved.  These pictures are not for the faint of heart:

It will be hard to try and explain what I saw...

This first picture is o a man wit ha knife through his cheek.

The second one is another man with several scythes through his cheeks.

The third picture is of a man with a whole collection of knives through his cheeks.

The fourth picture is a collection of swords.

The fifth picture shows a man with firecrackers going off around him.  Beyond self-piercings, many people would dance on top of lit firecrackers or hold them above their heads.

The sixth picture shows a man who pierced his whole body with pins that have ribbons/beads attached to them.

The seventh picture is of a woman with several knives in her.

The eigth picture is of a woman with a round pole stuch through her face and apples on it.

The ninth picture is a man with a spear.

The tenth picture is a man who pierced his tongue.  Definitely creepy looking.

Baggage check anyone?  The eleventh picture is of a man who pierced himself with a suitcase.  There were many interesting objects used besides knives, including the masts of model boats, huge branches, hedge clippers, guitars (see picture # 12), guns (pictures 13 and 14), flags, clocks and just about anything else that you could think of.

The fifteenth picture is a man wrapped in barbed wire.

The sixteenth picture is of a man who either cut his tongue or lips and let himself bleed all over himself.

The seventeenth and final picture was the hardest thing to see.  It is of a child who pierced himself and was participating in the festival.  It was wrong...

If you made it this far, thnak you for looking at my pictures, but sorry if you are feeling sick.  I will try to make my next pictures a little happier.