This is a video footage of what happened at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2016, Final day…
Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2016, Final day Summary
While there are only nine official days of the vegetarian festival, each shrine holds a small ceremony on the 10th day with a feast to honor the devotees who sacrificed themselves for their communities and other believers as well as the intimate affair of lowering the Lantern Pole. This ceremony is rather private with only the patrons of the shrines as well as the devotees who participated in the rituals attending.
During the late morning and the early afternoon of the 10th day, the community gathers and the shrine prepares a feast of meat based dishes and meals to show appreciation for the devotees devotion, support and participation during the festival. The feast symbolizes the end to The Nine Emperor Gods Festival, as the devotees enjoy a much needed and well-deserved meal prepared in their honor.
Between the hours of 15.00 and 17.00, on the afternoon of the tenth day of the ninth lunar month (October 29th), in a brief ceremony, with participants dressed in everyday clothes, the Lantern Poles are lowered and the three burning wicks are extinguished. The remains of the oil used to keep the lanterns lit throughout the festival is then mixed with the oil that is used to light the altars and divided up among the devotees. It is believed that this oil holds special healing powers that will help keep the devotees, their homes and their families free of illness and disease.
While this part of the Vegetarian Festival generally isn’t open to the public, the rest of the Vegetarian Festival is. As I have stressed numerous times throughout this blog, I really implore you all to observe at least one day of this glorious festival for a deeper understanding of the Thai-Chinese community that makes up 30% of Phuket’s population and also to experience a bit of the local history.
More Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2016 Videos:
For more information about this popular Phuket festival you may read our blog article Phuket Vegetarian Festival