Also known as Kow Wong Yeh in Cantonese, it is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar, observed in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand.
I have written about it before,; in the Brunei Times, and 'Godly Acts', when I saw the festival in Phuket. In 2014 I was in Ao Nang, Krabi, and managed to catch the celebration on 29 Sept. It was quite low key compared to that at Phuket, but the fire crackers were just as noisy!
The festival is slightly similar to the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, in that many religious devotees perform mutilation upon themselves and one another (with consent) whilst in a trance-like state. They impale their cheeks, arms, face, legs, back, with objects such as skewers, spanners, etc, and may also slash their limbs, chest, stomach and tongue with swords, axes and knives, and maybe climb ladders with blades on the rungs. They stand near fire crackers as they are lit.
The 'gods' visit tables of offerings set up by devotees and bless them. These 'gods' are people who invite the spirits to possess their bodies. They are in a trance and don't seem to feel pain and shake their heads constantly and are watched by people to help them.
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| people (and dog) waiting to be blessed |
The procession of 'gods' -
They paint Chinese characters for good luck, on paper and even on cars -
See more on Wikipedia.
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