Plan accordingly with Vegetarian Festival’s schedule of events

PHUKET: The Vegetarian Festival will kick off in less than two weeks across the island, with yellow and red flags being raised to mark the popular annual event.

This year the festival will take place during October 13-21 with the special addition of a parade in honor of HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 88th birthday on October 14.

The annual festival will begin with a ceremonial raising of go teng poles to invite the Jade Emperor and nine Emperor Gods to descend to our earthly realm on October 12.

The nine-day event attracts thousands of visitors to Phuket to witness the festivities, which include fire-walking, bladed-ladder climbing, hundreds of stalls fully stocked with vegan foods and processions at various locations across the island.

On the last day of the festival, all participating shrines stage street processions to Saphan Hin between 11:45pm to midnight to bid the gods a ‘grand farewell’ before they proceed heavenward.

The final processions are renowned for the large number of firecrackers set alight by devotees and revelers as the processions pass by.

The schedule for street processions by Chinese shrines from October 14 onwards is as follows:

October 14, 2015: Choor Su Gong Naka Shrine (Phuket Town)
October15, 2015: Sapam Shrine (Phuket Town)
October 16, 2015: Samkong Shrine
October 17, 2015: Ban Tha Rue Shrine (Phuket Town)
October 18, 2015: Bang Neow Shrine (Phuket Town), Cherng Talay Shrine (Thalang District)
October 19, 2015: Jui Tui Shrine (Phuket Town)
October 20, 2015: Kathu Shrine (Kathu Town), Yokkekeng Shrine (Phuket Town)
October 21, 2015: Sui Boon Tong Shrine (Phuket Town)

The schedule for fire-walking events:

October 18, 2015
8pm: Ban Tha Rue Shrine
8pm: Yokkekeng Shrine
8:09pm: Jui Tui Shrine at Saphan Hin
9pm: Sapam Shrine
9pm: Sui Boon Tong Shrine

October 20, 2015
8pm: Bang Neow Shrine
8pm: Samkong Shrine
8:09pm: Cherng Talay Shrine

October 21, 2015
3pm: Kathu Shrine

The bladed-ladder climbing event will only be held on October 19:
7:59pm: Cherng Thalay Shrine
8pm: Bang Neow Shrine
8pm: Samkong Shrine

Meanwhile Sapam Shrine will hold a nail bridge crossing event at 8pm on October 19.

10 Rules of the Vegetarian Festival

1. Maintain personal cleanliness
2. Use separate clean kitchen utensils and do not share with others not participating
3. Wear white
4. Maintain polite behavior
5. Abstain from eating meat or other animal-based products
6. Abstain from sexual activities
7. Abstain from consuming alcohol
8. People in mourning should not take part
9. Pregnant women must refrain from watching festival rituals
10. Menstruating women should not attend festival rituals.

— Chutharat Plerin