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Kathu Shrine Street Procession
Local culture
Free entry
Crowded
▰▰▰▰
Family
Sat, 17 October · from 06:45
Kathu time (UTC+7)
Kathu Shrine
Kathu
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Thailand · Phuket · Kathu
About the event
Early in the morning, the deities of Kathu 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. The route is on TAT's map in the cover. Come in white, with earplugs and closed shoes; the time follows TAT's schedule and may shift.
From the editors
Kathu Shrine is where, by tradition, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival began almost 200 years ago, brought by Chinese who came to work the tin mines. 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.