Piercing rituals....(Shocking!not for the squeamish)
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Some kinda ritual involving the piercing of cheeks?
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"PHUKET, Thailand (AP) -- His face a mask of otherworldly repose, the teen-age disciple didn't bat an eye when the temple elder held his mouth open and pierced his cheek with a 3-foot-long steel spike, like a needle punching through cloth.
Dripping blood from the wound in his face, the teen-ager -- along with scores of others like him -- marched down the streets of Phuket, spurred by the din of Chinese music, firecrackers and cheers from a crowd that occasionally wiped his face clean and stuck money on the spike.
"When I'm pierced, I don't feel anything," Udom Than said. "I'm possessed."
Once a year, Phuket changes from Thailand's best-known tropical island into a stage for one of the world's most bizarre rituals of self-mortification -- oddly known as the Vegetarian Festival.
Across Thailand, the festival is traditionally celebrated in the ninth lunar month of the Chinese year, ending today. During that time, many of Thailand's 6 million or so ethnic Chinese will refrain from eating meat.
But on Phuket, a beach paradise on the Andaman Sea, 430 miles south of Bangkok, the festival takes a masochistic turn, drawing large crowds of spectators at the slowest part of the tourist season.
For teen-age disciples, the festival is a rite of toughness. But older men and some women, motivated chiefly by prestige and tradition, make up the largest number of participants. All participants abstain from meat, alcohol and sex for nine days before the piercing.
"The body piercing, I think, is getting out of hand," said a temple elder, speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's become a big tourist attraction, with more and more youngsters getting involved each year, sort of a macho thing."
Devotees gather at several temples honoring Chinese gods and spirits then undergo a series of purification rituals that, after several days, culminate in a trance.
They roll back their eyes, shake their heads, dance -- whatever it takes to block out the pain -- then pierce their bodies in an ultimate expression of religious devotion.
Most put a single steel rod ranging in width from a quarter-inch to an inch, through one cheek. The more experienced or daring might put four through their cheeks at crazily crossed angles, another through the skin of their necks, and maybe one or two more through their arms.
Others choose more bizarre objects to pierce their bodies: a samurai sword, an umbrella, a small tree, a sailfish, a musket, a lamp -- one year, even the kitchen sink, with the faucet plunged through the cheek and the basin carried by a helper.
This year, a man sprayed blood down his chest as he ripped his tongue on a logging saw. Most marchers don't bleed much, though -- until the pierced objects are withdrawn, uncorking their wounds.
Though they are rarely needed, ambulances stand by to transport those overcome by shock to the hospital. Apart from soreness, little real damage is done.
Some spectators along the parade route sometimes offer tea to the marchers. But it's more symbolic than helpful, since most can't swallow well with a mouth full of steel.
Phuket health authorities have advised the temples to take precautions -- such as not sharing spikes and wearing rubber gloves when handling them -- against the blood-borne HIV virus that causes AIDS.
The Phuket version of the festival has its roots in the discovery of tin on the island about 160 years ago and the ensuing arrival of Chinese laborers to work the mines. An epidemic swept the island at the same time a Chinese opera troupe was touring to entertain the workers.
One performer suggested the Chinese were victimized by the scourge because they had failed to observe traditions, including the festival. Thereafter, the occasion was marked with unusual fervency and eventually, acts of self-mortification crept into the observance.
At the start of the festival, worshippers deposit fruit and incense at the temples. Each temple also sponsors a parade, which is preceded the night before by men and women reputedly becoming possessed by the gods and speaking in ancient Chinese. Some walk on hot coals, others climb blade ladders.
The next day, they pierce themselves and march.
"It's the faith -- faith in the gods here," one disciple, who gave his name only as Thisan, said before adding: "Sorry, that's enough now -- it hurts." -
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"The piercing itself is being done with surgical precision. The helpers wear antiseptic gloves and clean the piercing tools with antiseptic cloths before inserting them - mostly through the cheeks.
It is a truly amazing sight to see -not one, but as many ten, twenty or sixty- people in the same place being pierced by gigantic objects. Without feeling pain, that is. Some of the inserted rods are ten ore more incredible meters long. Many have heavy objects attached to them. Some of them - like steely wire - bind three or four people together like beads on a string.
It takes two or three men to punch and steer the heavy metal through the face of its victims. And of course it takes at least one helper on each side of the person to be able to carry the load and walk in the processions." -
oH mY g0d ~
I juz dun understand y they hafta do tis kinda stuffs to torture their body...
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you call these gods??? they r demons!!! God doesnt want to inflict self torture on ppl nor promote His creations to do that.
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Originally posted by NeonTetra:you call these gods??? they r demons!!! God doesnt want to inflict self torture on ppl nor promote His creations to do that.
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Apalling...simply appalling. I wonder if they have any plastic surgeons on standby too.
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wow.. wats ear rings, nipple rings and all tt compared to these!
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Originally posted by wuming78:wow.. wats ear rings, nipple rings and all tt compared to these!
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More pix..
"Some people believe that they have become "mediums" for the Chinese Gods during the Festival. The "mediums" in the processions have put sharp objects (mostly metal objects) through their cheeks. On these pictures you can see two quite spectacularly -if I may use that word here- mutilated "mediums". As is also clear from these pictures (and the ones following), everybody who participates in the Vegetarian Festival is wearing white clothes. Commerce has entered the Festival too, however, and some dresses are printed with advertisements, in which case they are provided by the advertisers, free of charge. This comes with a price after all, because in that case they are not really white any more, as they should be. "
"On the two pictures above this text you can see two more "mediums". The "medium" on the left hand side picture has put knives through his cheeks. The "twins" on the right hand side picture are bound together by the rings through their cheeks. I mentioned this, just in case you had not noticed this for yourself! "
"Here are two more quite spectacularly mutilated "mediums". One has a large kind of sword through his cheeks and the other one has loaded the bar which is put through his cheeks with heavy pineapples. It is, by the way, quite common to put fruit on the object(s) you are carrying through your cheeks in the procession. Apart from that, along the route fruit is also being offered to the "mediums" by onlookers. "
"Just in case you were thinking that only men are participating in this madness, here are two examples of lovely Thai ladies who are "mediums" during the ten days of the Festival.
The picture on the right hand side also shows one of the small altars that are placed before all businesses (hotels, shops etc.) to supply the "mediums" with fruit and cups of tea. On every altar you will find nine cups of tea. Nine is a number with a special meaning, not only during the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, but in the whole of Thailand for every occasion. "