Nine Emperor Gods Festival **WARNING - BLOODY, GRAPHIC CONTENT**

IGADIZ

IGADIZ

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Ivan
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During my recent holiday to Thailand I was lucky to be there whilst the Nine Emperor Gods Festival was in full flight. and with Thailand’s celebrations of this chinese religious event being particularly spectacular. Boy was I in for a treat!

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Celebrated by Phuket’s and Krabi Chinese community, the event marks the beginning of the month of ‘Taoist Lent’, when devout followers of the Tao abstain from eating all meat and animal products. Participating street vendors and restaurants display bright yellow banners .

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The festival begins with processions, religious offerings and cultural performances, centred on five Chinese temples. The most significant location is Jui Tui temple, the modern annex of Put Jaw, the oldest Chinese temple in Phuket Town.

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The religious fervour culminates with incredible acts of self-mortification – walking on hot coals, climbing knife-blade ladders, piercing the skin with sharp objects.

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Devotees participating as mediums bring the nine Taoist emperor gods to earth by entering into a trance state and piercing their cheeks with all manner of objects: sharpened tree branches, spears, slide trombones, daggers.

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Some even hack their tongues continuously with a saw or axe blade.

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Shopkeepers on central streets set up altars in front of their stores, offering incense, fruit, candles, flowers and nine tiny cups of tea to the deities invoked throughout the festival.

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During the street processions, mediums stop at the altars and pick up the fruit, which they add to the objects piercing their cheeks or pass on to bystanders as a blessing.

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The mediums also drink one of the nine cups of tea and grab some flowers to stick in their waistbands. The shopkeepers and their families look on with their heads lowered and hands together in a prayerlike wâi gesture, out of respect for the mediums and the deities possessing their pierced bodies.

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The deafening firecrackers, ritual dancing and bloodied shirts create an atmosphere of religious frenzy. Strangely, there is no record of this kind of activity associated with Taoist Lent in China.

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Some historians have concluded that Phuket’s and Krabi's Chinese community was influenced by the Thaipusam festival celebrated in nearby Malaysia. The Hindu festival features similar acts of self-mortification.

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The folk clutching the saws and axe blades, however, have another explanation. They say the festival was started by a Chinese theatre troupe that stopped off in Kathu, northwest of Phuket Town, around 150 years ago.

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According to legend, the troupe fell ill because its members had failed to propitiate the nine emperor gods. The nine-day penance they performed included self-piercing, meditation and a strict vegetarian diet.
 
A fantastic set although very graphic, you have managed to capture the mood of the festival and the narrative is very enjoyable.
A wonderful experience that you captured very well.
 
Speedy136 said:
A fantastic set although very graphic, you have managed to capture the mood of the festival and the narrative is very enjoyable.
A wonderful experience that you captured very well.
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Agreed. The first tongue one really made me wince.
 
Eeugh , makes you cringe a bit looking at those but superb photos and fascinating to see, thank you for sharing them.
 
An excellent set of images, albeit somewhat graphic....however, your write up offers a good insight into the culture of these people... fantastic.
 
Thank you guys for the taking the time to comment.

Yes they are graphic in nature but, I can only take images of what's going on around me.

This kind of self mutilation during the Kin Jay is restricted to Thailand (more specifically to Phuket and Krabi) and is not found anywhere else in the world.

It was with a lot of distress that I took these images as, some of the "mediums", were very young indeed.

They claim not feel any pain but, common, we all have had a paper cut on our tongues at some point or another and know that it hurts like hell.

That young boy can't be more than 15-16 years old and his tongue has been hacked to the point I can no longer see any taste buds on it... The sobering thought was, he still had 4 more days of "hacking" to go through!

The still images can't convey the sheer horror of the scenes I witnessed. The constant drumming and firecracker explosions together with the loud frenzied chanting performed before every cut was, at times, incredibly intoxicating.

Still, my constant thought was: how can they allow these young people to do this to themselves?
They are not yet mature enough to understand the nature of what it is they are doing and, this self sacrifice should, by all means, be restricted to adults only.

I'm looking forwards to hear your thoughts on the matter.
 
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A fantastic story, powerful imagery, enjoyed and winced at the same time. Thanks for sharing.

How can they allow it? The world is a strange place, but is it that strangeness and diversity that gives your images their power? My brother has just come back from a Hong Kong & China trip, a train journey through the poorest parts of the country, people living in ramshackle huts, working the fields. Every one had a 50" tv screen.

Phil.
 
wow, some really powerful images.. amazing work, I think I would have winced away at some of the shots.
 
im still sitting here shocked- even with the pre warning.... holy hell.......

cracking shots of a culture i know very little about and probably never will for fears of nightmares....
 
They are very interesting pictures, the first picture of the guy and his tongue his eyes convey what his going through. What a great shot
 
Some truly amazing images Ivan, I class myself as someone with a strong stomach but I'm not sure I would have had the constitution to continue to press the shutter :eek: something I find interesting is that in the more graphic ones it seems that the subjects eyes are rolled right up one wonders if this is a pain effect or maybe something more hallucinogenic :thinking:

Matt
 
Thank you all for taking the time to comment.

A bit more info for those who maybe considering attending next year

The seven stars making up our Big Dipper constellation plus two unseen stars are considered to be the nine emperor gods being celebrated.

Known as the Kin Jay, Nine Emperor Gods or the Phuket vegetarian Festival, the celebrations run for nine days. It is by far the most extreme and bizarre festival I have ever witnessed (and I have seen the famous Easter flagellation processions in Spain). Celebrated primarily by the Chinese community in Thailand and around Southeast Asia, devotees are expected to wear white and keep pure thoughts; they give up meat, sex, alcohol, stimulants, and strong foods such as garlic.

The chosen Mah-Song -- always unmarried men and women -- ask the gods to enter their bodies. They wear elaborate costumes and pierce their bodies in an entranced estate. This practice is strictly confined to Thailand (more specifically to Phuket and Krabi area)

People in mourning and pregnant or menstruating women are not supposed to attend the ceremonies.

The Festival begins on the first day in the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so dates change annually. Typically the festival is held in Autumn, near the end of September and beginning of October. This is no sombre temple experience! The Festival is lively, chaotic, and loud.

Tourists are invited to attend the procession and take photographs. But, be aware... Although the Festival seems like a bizarre carnival, it is a deeply religious event; show respect and stay out of the way!

Most tourists simply attend to see the extreme piercings but, excellent vegetarian food can be enjoyed by all. Participating restaurants and food stalls fly a yellow flag with red Chinese lettering.

The vegetarian food found at the festival looks identical to meat products such as pork and chicken, however, it is vegan -- even eggs and dairy products are not used during the festival. Special care is taken to give food the same texture and appearances of the meats they mimic.

All in a once in a lifetime unforgettable experience.
 
Awesome work. Not much more to say.
 
Thank you guys :)
 
My God, compelling stuff. Just made a note to myself about avoiding a trance like state for the foreseeable future. As stated above good effort to keep the shots rolling when it's like that. Shots with a purpose!
 
Great captures but obviously troublingly misled people :shrug:
 
Brilliant photos, fascinating story behind them, must have been hard to watch some of that :clap:
 
gazmorton2000 said:
Agreed. The first tongue one really made me wince.
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And me!

Fantastic photographs and I'm sure it is a truly unbelievable experience to see it in the flesh. Not sure I'm going to be adding it to my bucket list though. I prefer my vegetarian diet without the accompanying self-mutilation!
 
Interesting read about the festival, never heard of it before. But those images... :eek:

Well taken, and I applaud your ability to keep shooting whilst people are hacking their tongues to shreds. I know I couldn't.
 
Now that is a spectacular festival, really well captured. It certainly made me wince. It's great to hear/see of a new and fascinating religious festival. Thanks for sharing these powerful images.

Had to stop eating lunch for a few minutes and check my tongue!
 
Thank you all for the kind comments.
@ Dathchaffinch.
I think I left EXIF data intact. Still, I used a EOS 1Dx and EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS MKII. There was a lot of fire crackers exploding everywhere and so, smoke made things quite challenging. Lens was for the most part wide open and I used manual settings.
 
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