Street procession, Vegetarian Festival Phuket, Thailand

Each year in the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar participants demonstrate their devotion through cleansing rituals, from adherence to a specific diet and abstinence from impure or intoxicating acts to feats of endurance and suffering.

Select few operate as mediums of the gods and use rituals including self mutilation to purify and thus direct misfortune away from their community.