Festival Flavor: Origins

A brochure by the Airports Authority of Thailand states that the origins of vegetarianism in Phuket can be traced back hundreds of years to China, to a travelling Chinese theatre troupe performing in Phuket. Upon becoming ill with malaria, the performers adopted a strict vegetarian diet to propitiate their deities and were subsequently cured. Witnessing this, the local villagers followed suit, beginning on the first night of the ninth month (of the Chinese calendar) and continuing until the ninth night. These nine days of "self-denial" were considered to be auspicious, both for the devotee and the community at large.

In The Phuket Gazette, an English-language weekly, Karudee `Cheng' Chotithamaporn, a local lecturer in Chinese history explains further:

According to history, the festival here began shortly after the Boxer Rebellion in China in 1900. The defeat of the Boxers, coupled with a number of coinciding natural catastrophes, caused many Chinese to migrate to other parts of the world. They took the vegetarian festival with them.

The Vegetarian Festival was even then driven mainly by politics, though with a very strong religious undertone. Although they were here in Thailand, most Chinese people still believed that eventually they would win their land back. Most of the Chinese banners that you see displayed at the festival are reminders to younger generations that they have to keep on fighting and that, one day, the Ming Dynasty will return and once more prosper.

As to the historical reasons for the self-mutilations performed by the mah song, those said to be possessed by the nine gods, Khun Cheng describes them as "stunt acts to get people psyched up during the Boxer Rebellion - something along the lines of `we are immortal' or `the gods are with us'." [1]