← All events
Hot Water Bathing Ritual at Sam Ong Hoo Cherngtalay Shrine
Local culture
Free entry
Medium
▰▰▰▱
Family
Fri, 16 October · from 20:30
Bang Tao time (UTC+7)
Sam Ong Hoo Cherngtalay Shrine
Cherng Talay
·
Thailand · Phuket · Bang Tao
About the event
In the evening, a cauldron of water is brought to the boil over a fire at Sam Ong Hoo Cherngtalay Shrine, and the ma song bathe in it in trance. Spectators keep their distance and film only with the shrine staff's permission; the time follows TAT's schedule and may shift.
From the editors
Sam Ong Hoo keeps three carved deity images over a hundred years old, brought from China, with black, red and green faces, hence the name “three deities”. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival (Jia Chai) is the nine-day Taoist festival of the Nine Emperor Gods: those who keep it dress in white, give up meat and hold vows of purification, while 39 shrines across the island hold their own rites. The trials of the ma song, mediums in trance, by fire, boiling water and blades show the power of the god: while the deity is in the body it is believed to be protected, and the medium takes on the community's misfortune.