ihung.org

So far, most of the images I’ve posted have been in regards to the street processions, but that’s not all that happens during the festival. I’ve chosen to largely highlight that aspect of this ceremony as it is most in line with body modification rituals such as suspensions. This post is still going to be mostly images from the processions, but I’m also including some notes and pics from one of the evening rituals: hot oils baths.

As I mentioned before, the temples do firewalking ceremonies at night, and in addition to that, the night prior, the mah-song partake in hot oil baths. A large wok of oil is heated and the entranced mah-song tend to it, dipping their hands into it to test it’s temperature. When it reaches the proper temperature (ie bubbling), they take swaths of clothe, dip them in the oil and proceed to flagellate themselves, leaving red marks and oil all over their torsos. Again, due to rain and their rapid movements, I was unable to obtain pictures of the actual flagellation, but I do have a picture of the oil and one of Bang Neow’s eldest mah-song between flagellations.

The mediums take turns self-flagellating and saying prayers over the oil. Once the oil is sufficiently blessed, it is ladled into small plastic bottles and sold to the patrons of the shrine. It’s said to be great for body massage, but it’s other use in soothing your feet after walking on fire the next night. I can personally attest to the oil’s abilities in healing the latter…
Now, here are some random pictures of Jui-Tui mah-song and their various “burdens”.
Those hooks in his ears seem familiar….
Note that I use the term “burdens” as my own word, which I’ve appropriated from thaipusam as I don’t really know what else to call the items they wear/carry. Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of western documentation (or eastern for that matter) which describes this ceremony as it’s very unique to Phuket province. Even elsewhere in Thailand, the piercing portion of the ceremony isn’t present, nor is it present in Malaysia or mainland China where the festival originates as The Nine Emperors Festival.

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.

This post is more or less a photo dump, but I’ll try to give at least a brief explanation of each picture. For back story, in 2007 I was invited by some friends to visit the Vegetarian Festival with them; Ron more or less picking up on the fact that I needed to get away for a bit and experience the world more, which he was certainly correct on. Ron and John had done the legwork to make friends with a mah-song (Medium/Priest) at a prestigious temple called Bang Neow, so the rest of the Westerners and I (there was a posse of around 8 or so of us) were their on the coattails of John and Ron. We were treated to a most prestigious and up close experience of the Festival, an experience I cherish and will never forget. I returned in 2008 and 2009, each year having a vastly different vibe from the previous and 2011 is no exception. Anyhow, this morning was Bang Neow’s street procession, so I was up at 5:00am to make it to the shrine in time to see the mah-song being entranced and pierced prior to the procession and here are a few pics.

This is one of the “spears” used for piercing the cheeks of the mah-song. This goes in as far as necessary in order to insert whatever burden the mah-song will bear.

A mah-song pierced with a long spear adorned with flowers (not visible)
These three are of various types of flagellants which are my favorite mah-song “type”. The first is offering blood at the shrine, the second is licking a giant saw blade while walking, and the third shows the aftermath of licking blades for a few hours.
Here we see an elder mah-song standing on a chariot carried by devotees as he blesses a small shrine. The second shot gives a decent idea as to the amount of firecrackers lit off.

Tomorrow’s procession is for Jui Tui shrine, which is a large shrine with many devotees and mah-song, with a strong female mah-song presence, so I’ll be certain to get lots of pictures from their ceremony as well. Tonight is firewalking (weather permitting) at many of the smaller shrines, so I’m hoping to get some pictures and videos from that to put up as well.