Bloody ritual at Thai festival
A vegetarian festival devotee parades through the streets in Phuket, Thailand, Sept. 29, 2014.
Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces its roots back to the early 1800's. The annual festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days.
Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. The ritualized mutilation is performed at a local Buddhist shrine under a trance-like state and is careful supervised.
All images taken in Phuket, Sept. 29, 2014.
Phuket
Vegetarian festival devotees parade through the streets as firecrackers go off.
Phuket
A vegetarian festival devotee gets pierced at the Bang Neow shrine.
Phuket
Vegetarian festival devotees parade through the streets as firecrackers go off.
Phuket
A vegetarian festival devotee gets pierced at the Bang Neow shrine.
Phuket
A Thai woman and her children launch firecrackers as the Jui Tui shrine street procession passes.
Phuket
Devotees of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine carry a statue amid exploding firecrackers during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival.
The festival, featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind.
Phuket
Vegetarian festival devotees parade through the streets as firecrackers go off.
Phuket
Vegetarian festival devotees clasp their hands in prayer before the Jui Tui shrine parades through the streets.
Phuket
A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine, with two plastic guns pierced through his cheeks, takes part in a street procession.
Phuket
Cuts made by an axe are seen on the tattooed back of a devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine, taking part in a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket.
Phuket
A vegetarian festival devotee parades through the streets.
Phuket
A vegetarian festival devotee drinks as he blesses Thai people during a parade.
Phuket
Devotees of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine cut themselves with swords and other sharp objects during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival.
Phuket
A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine with spikes attached to plastic pistols pierced through his cheeks takes part in a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival.
Phuket
Devotees of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine with different objects pierced through their mouths get ready for a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival.
Phuket
A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine is helped to put more spikes through his cheeks before a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival.
Phuket
Thai women clasp their hands in prayer as the Jui Tui shrine street procession passes.