At first glance, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival may appear like a scene from your most feverish of nightmares.
At second glance, especially in one of the early morning processions, your brain may try to make sense of it all, perhaps by explaining it as something head-scratchingly different and something that, thankfully, belongs solely to the exotic popular Thai holiday island.
If you can stomach a third glance at this centuries-old festival, which begins today, you will probably begin to notice a pattern emerging: a theme of masculine one-upmanship, as the predominantly male participants compete as to who can stick the most outlandish, obscure and huge implements into their flesh.
There are women at these parades and throughout the festival, but they are usually found cooking food at the hundreds of roadside restaurants and stalls that pop up in Phuket Town, or holding incense sticks while gently swaying to the rhythmic chant-filled ceremonies at the many temples dotted around the island.
One of a handful of Phuket-resident women usually not content with such a subsidiary role is 26-year-old Mimi Asawarak, originally from the Thai-Malaysian border town of Narathiwat. She moved to the holiday island of Phuket at 15, which was when she first heard of the unique festival.
"I thought it was just a part of local culture and what people believed in -- that's all it was for me."
While Mimi was growing up, she, like many Phuket residents and the thousands of tourists that visit the annual festival, was aware of it, but just couldn't necessarily relate to what it was all about.
A devotee climbs a bladed ladder.
To an extent, this is perfectly understandable, as, like with many aspects of Thai culture and history, there are conflicting accounts to its origins. What is generally agreed upon, however, is that at some point in the mid-19th century, a Chinese opera group visited the island to entertain the mainly Chinese residents of Phuket Town, which, at the time, was covered in jungle.
The troupe immediately fell sick, apparently with malaria, and to honour two of the emperor gods the Chinese visitors decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet in the hope they be spared death.
Upon making a full and complete recovery, the people of Phuket were fascinated at such a miraculous turn of events and assumed it was all due to their strict diet.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival was thus born, and now more than 150 years later, on the first night of the ninth lunar month for a period of nine days, the people of Phuket Town also practice the abstinence of meat (and nowadays also sex and alcohol) throughout the event to honour their ancestors.
The more connected/devout/hardcore of residents partake in other activities, including climbing bladed ladders, walking on burning coals, and, of course, sticking swords et cetera through body parts.
So, when Mimi first moved to Phuket and witnessed the festival first-hand, she was, understandably, rather sceptical, and a touch fearful. Over the years, she even purposefully stayed away.
That all changed two years ago, however, when she had a "weird" dream.
"It involved a Chinese goddess. For a whole month, I would see her. Then I asked my Mum what it meant and she said, 'You're probably involved in this maa song thing'."
Maa song (human mediums) are central to this annual festival and their responsibility -- they're believed to absorb evil power from others and act as a vassal for the gods to enter -- is the focal point of the nine-day spectacle.
The morning after Mimi's dream, she went with her mother to the Jui Tui temple, one of the island's biggest Chinese temples and central to the festivities in Phuket. There she had a strange experience as she started to shake and cry for no reason.
"So a few weeks later, when the festival came around, I went along on the first day and when I heard the beats of the drum, I started shaking again and running around."
Indeed, the sounds of the festival, the banging of the huge temple drums, the chants, and the bangs of the firecrackers, are almost as arresting as the sights. Almost.
On day two of the festival, Mimi said, she became "one of them".
Mimi Asawarak.
Along with a friend, she went back to Jui Tui temple and was given a white dress.
"They hit the drum, and I became 'that way' again, I took my shoes off and went with them [on a procession]. We walked for around 10km, to different temples and I stepped on many pebbles and stones and people would throw firecrackers -- thousands of them, and I loved it -- I wasn't scared, I just wanted to go for it.
"It didn't feel like it was me. I saw what was happening around me, but it didn't feel like me."
This possession and abandoning of self is common for the maa song. During the parades and processions, they enter trances and speak in tongues. On the final night of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, the noise, the sights and the smells reach a crescendo of epic proportions as the inhabitants, both past and present, parade through the streets of Phuket Town, carrying spirit houses and being pelted by firecrackers from the crowd.
It's been two years since Mimi walked in a trance, barefoot through the streets. She didn't go all the way at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2013, so there was no spearing of flesh.
"I was scared of that," she said, "that's why I'm not going to it this year."
She added that to spear the flesh, "is the goddess' decision. When it's your time [to do that], you have to do it, you can't stop it".
So, although Mimi's not ruled out joining some of her maa song sisters in future festivals, this year at least, she will be working as a sales manager at an upmarket swimwear shop in Bangkok. Stylish, trendy, streetwise city slicker, Mimi has lived and worked in the capital for two years now. She's an image of a modern woman, at least on the surface. At least until the ninth lunar month roles around.
In the age of iPhones, the vegetarian festival is one of the events that show how ancient spiritual belief remains central in many people's identity. In fact, technology has even made it easier for Thais who are "spiritually-inclined" to stay connected.
"We communicate via Facebook and things like that. There's loads of Facebook pages for maa song where we chat. That's how we communicate, we are like family."
Indeed, the popularity of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival shows no sign of slowing, and every year thousands of spectators turn up to witness the ancient festival.
In the past few years, there have even been a few foreigners involved, with two Caucasians seen in 2013 acting as the ultimate props for one maa song.
While others were seen with parasols and swords spearing their flesh, one plucky chap had two white men literally hanging out of his cheeks. Hard to beat.
There are no shortage of maa song, with some still travelling from outside of the province to take part; many in their teenage years. Older generations of Phuket Town residents believe it has become somewhat corrupted and commercialised over the years. In 2014, there was outcry over Chang beer sponsoring the event, despite alcohol being banned during the festival.
Unfortunately every year, there are also accidents and serious injuries sustained. In 2011, for example, one attendee died.
Many visitors to the Phuket Vegetarian Festival turn up to just take photos or enjoy the food and general atmosphere.
For some, a few glances and being able to tick off the "exotic festival" box is enough, for others, like the hundreds of chosen ones, including Mimi, the festival has a profound lifelong affect.
But for whatever reason in visiting the festival, it's important Mimi said, to come with an open mind.
"These things are sensitive and hard to believe. I never believed, but once it happened, and I proved it many times, I had to believe it. So I just want people to pay respect, not believe it, just respect it."
- The Phuket Vegetarian Festival starts today until Oct 21.
- Jody Houton is the author of a book about Thai culture, A Geek In Thailand, out next month.
