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Hai Yian Geng Shrine Street Procession
Local culture
Free entry
Medium
▰▰▰▱
Family
Mon, 12 October · from 07:00
Mai Khao time (UTC+7)
Hai Yian Geng Shrine
Mai Khao
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Thailand · Phuket · Mai Khao
About the event
In the morning, the deities of Hai Yian Geng Shrine are carried through the streets in palanquins, with the ma song in trance walking alongside, to drums and the constant crackle of firecrackers. Households along the route set up altars with candles, incense, flowers, fruit, sweets and tea, and the procession stops to bless them. Come in white, with earplugs and closed shoes; the time follows TAT's schedule and may shift.
From the editors
Hai Yian Geng stands by Mai Khao Beach next to Mai Khao temple and has held the vegetarian festival since 2008. 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 street procession is the festival's most spectacular event: the gods are believed to bless people through the ma song, mediums in trance, which is why households greet it with altars. Never cut across a procession, and give way to the mediums.