To understand the history of the festival and its ritual practices please visit an older post documenting the Festival in Phuket – Thailand

If you wish to know more about the Ma Song’s and their motivations and experiences I found these interviews to be informative: Interview with a Spirit Medium, and Life of a Ma Song.

If in Phuket and in need of a knowledgeable guide I can recommend Kritchaya Na Takuathung with Phuket Heritage Trails. Khun Chaya is a Phuket native, fun to be with, and has many rave reviews on tripadvisor.

For the photogs reading this post I’m a Canon gal and used the 85 mm 1.2L and 35 mm 1.4L for this event. Most of these photos were taken with the 35 mm, with very little cropping, which meant getting up close and personal to the subjects.

It is only after the event, when I started to edit the images that I felt squeamish. Curiously, while in the zone / flow of shooting the subjects being pierced I wasn’t so effected.

The days were manic, trying to cover all aspects of the Festival wasn’t possible. The streets and temples were crowded and you had to hustle for access and proximity to the piercing’s.

It’s a chaotic space crowded with professional and amateur photographers and videographers alike mixing it up in the pits with friendly camaraderie.

The weather was inclement with a cloudy sky and some rain. Which put a bit of a damper on things, however, the processions continued in an earnest manner. Everyone enjoying the festivities.

Attending the event, and then researching the Festival was a rewarding project, The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is worth attending, and will be held from October 20 -28th in 2017 – have fun.

The post Photographing the Phuket Vegetarian Festival appeared first on The 10 Sons Of Manu.

The line-up was impressive with rockstars Gilby Clarke (USA), Glenn Hughes (UK), Vernon Reid (USA),  Alex Skolnic Trio (USA), Uli Jon Roth (Germany), and Joe Satriani performing.

The New Zealand line-up included Kara Gordon Trio, Gray Barlett, Mathew Marshall Quartet, and Nick Granvill.

It was a week long festival and included performances to educate and inspire guitarists. Jam sessions, guitar clinics, discussion forums and midnight sessions were held throughout Taranaki. Subsequent Festivals were held through to 2010.

Please see here a few of my favourite photographs. I’m a Canon girl and was using an 85 mm f1.2L  and a 14 mm f2.8 lens for this occasion, and mostly with an ISO rating at 800.

The post Inaugural International Guitar Festival 2008 appeared first on The 10 Sons Of Manu.

WOMAD an internationally established festival, brings together artists from all over the globe. The central aim of the festival is to celebrate the world’s many forms of music, arts and dance.

In 2008 over 300 performers from 14 countries performed at the ‘open air’ stages at the picturesque TSB Bowl Of Brooklands in New Plymouth.

Artist Lineup

This is a sample of the artists I enjoyed:

Cara Dillion (Ireland)

Beirut (USA)

The Monks from Tasha Lhunpo Monastery (Tibet/India)

Dengue Fever (USA/Cambodia)

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba (Mali)

Kora (New Zealand)

Apart from singing and composing songs in several languages, choreographing her shows and designing her costumes, Sa Dingding also plays the 2,500-year-old guzheng zither.

Please see a photo essay of Sa Dingding’s performance at WOMAD World of Music, Art and Dance in 2008 at the TSB Bowl Of Brooklands – New Plymouth, New Zealand.

The post Sa Dingding at WOMAD New Zealand 2008 appeared first on The 10 Sons Of Manu.

Unfortunately, after a time many of the performers became terribly sick, and they decided that the cure was to eat only vegetables as they had done in China, in an act of contrition or expurgation for the sins incurred by the killing and consumption of animals.

Miraculously the ill members of the group were healed, and so the Chinese immigrants arranged for a Festival to be held again the next year, and every year since.

Thus, many believe holding the Festival helps prevent illness, death and the loss of innocent lives in the community by promoting physical and spiritual recovery through ritual practices that cleanse the body and mind while strengthening the faith.

Festival Preparation

In preparation for the Festival each shrine burns incense sticks to purify the surroundings, bringing forth an assembly of buddhas, bodhisattvas, gods and angels. Thus, driving away demons from the holy grounds.

Most shrines in Phuket conduct a Pangkun Ceremony to represent the sending of one’s soldiers in different directions to watch over and guard the perimeter of the city holding the Vegetarian Festival.

Each direction has a colour defined by a flag. Black for the northern troop, red for southern, green for eastern, a white flag for the western troop and yellow for the royal troop.

On the last day of the 8th lunar month of the Chinese calendar every shrine throughout the island begins to raise a Koteng lantern pole to invite the Jade Emperor Yok Ong Tai Teand the Nine Emperor Gods Kiu Ong Tai Te to attend.

In the evening of the same day, a gong is sounded to remind the people who have joined the Festival that there will be the Koteng Ceremony, and that all are invited. Previous to the raising of the sacred pole devotees spend days covering it in gold leaf.

Emperor God of Nine

There follows a Chia-yokhongsongtae Ceremony to honour the Emperor God of Nine, God of all Gods, or as Brahmanism’s believe, the God Siva.

The nine lanterns hanging at the top of the pole are the residences for the souls of the nine emperor Gods while they visit for the ten days of the Festival.

Because their spirits are so supreme and pure, their souls are being invited to earth but can’t come down any further as the world is full of evil thoughts and behaviours.

Although people observe the 10 strict rules of vegetarians still the world is not clean enough for supreme Gods to touch the ground.

On the 3rd, 6th and 9th day of the waxing moon of the Yin Calendar, food is strictly vegetarian with grass and beans prepared to worship the Ma Song, the holy horses.

Ma Song who have devoted their bodies to the spirits of the soldiers, commanders and generals who serve the Emperors in heaven.

Chinese Gods

Ma Song invite the spirits of the Gods to possess their bodies and use them as a vehicle, as one rides a horse. They use various items to pierce their bodies.

It is believed that the Chinese Gods will protect these people from harm. In the old days they used five sharp irons one foot long, with the handles made as pictures of Gods and to represent the signs of the angel army leaders for the five directions.

These irons were weapons like a halberd and a sword called Ngor-ngia-chian.

For more photos of Ma Song please visit this blog post,

Seven Planets

The Paichidechae or Koychidchae Ceremony honours the seven planets asking for their power to bring good luck to the people who join the ceremony.

A high stage is built for where only the leader medium gods and the ceremony committees may inhabit. A Songkeng asks for power from the planets.

Another ceremony follows to practice magic Hu where an incantation cloth is scattered for people to keep in order to bring good luck for the year ahead.

During the Iewkeng Ceremony the Gods Kiu Ong Tai Te walk the streets of Old Phuket Town and bless devotees with happiness. The sound of gongs and drums ring out to inform people that the procession is passing their way.

Kiu Ong Tai Te is followed by Thaokee, a procession of flags, similar to the process of war.

At the tail is a Thaipia procession, or small palanquin. There are many medium Gods who sit on the palanquins and those Gods are generals who control the angel army.

And then there is Tuo-lian, a beautiful palanquin procession in which the Gods Kiu Ong Tai Te sit. When this palanquin procession passes by, people along the road pay respect by kneeling down or sitting in silence, to welcome the king.

Sources of information and inspiration:

Jia Chai, the Faith Festival of the Phuket Baba (DVD), Phuket Tai Hua Museum.

Kritchaya Na Takuathung, Phuket Heritage Trails.

Please note that not all ceremonies over the 10 days of the festival are covered in this post.

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