Yesterday, as I posted here was devoted to Bang Neow Shrine, which is very conservative, and despite there being a few female deities involved in this festival, Bang Neow only has male mediums. Today is Jui-Tui’s day and it is a very different celebration.
Jui-Tui is the largest shrine in Phuket and as such has a much larger procession with many more mediums/mah-song than the others. It’s also unique for it’s vast amount of female mah-song. Other temples have female mah-song, but they tend to be entranced by mainly the more feminine of deities (the child and the old woman are the two I most easily recognize as feminine) whereas at Jui-Tui, all of the deities have female mediums spreading their prayers. Like last post, this one has lots of pictures, click through for full sizes.
This isn’t the old woman deity, but some sort of Goddess, she rarely walks, instead being driven through the procession, handing out flowers and bracelets, primarily to woman.
Just to show that the aforementioned woman doesn’t have to be an adult, here is a young child entranced by the same goddess
Just as the “goddess” doesn’t have to be an adult, the child deity doesn’t need to be a kid.
Rather usual piercings for female mah-song; flowers and roses on skewers
Not to say that the ladies don’t always go dainty in their choice of “burdens”
Sometimes they opt for more traditional, masculine, “burdens”.Unfortunately, it’s been storming like made here in Phuket, so getting decent pictures hasn’t always been possible, but I hope that these do some part to convey the different vibe of Jui-Tui.