Thai Vegetarian Restaurants
Thai vegetarian restaurants identify themselves with yellow flags, yellow signs, and a Chinese symbol for vegetarianism. Most restaurants in Thailand can prepare Thai vegetarian food if requested by replacing meat with soy protein such as tofu and eliminating the fish sauce and oyster sauce. Other savory ingredients commonly found in Thai vegetarian cooking include soy sauce, soy bean paste, chili and chili powder, lemon grass, coconut milk, galangal root, ginger, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, and sweet Thai basil. Happy Cow has a nice list of vegetarian restaurants in Thailand including vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai, Bangkok and Phuket.
Vegetarian Festival on the Thai Calendar
Every year, the people of Thailand celebrate a vegetarian festival. This Thailand festival is an annual celebration that occurs during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The ninth lunar month can occur during the months of September or October in any given year. Many Thai people observe this vegetarian festival, even if they do not eat Thai vegetarian food throughout the rest of the year. The festival is popular throughout Thailand, and especially in areas with large populations of Chinese immigrants, such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and Phuket.
The festival is for 10 days (as is the keeping to the precepts), and begins the day before the new moon of the 9th lunar month of the Chinese calendar. The Thailand vegetarian festival in 2010 will occur from October 7 through October 16, 2010. The following year, the vegetarian festival will occur from September 26 through October 5, 2011. For 2012 it should be The Thailand Vegetarian Festival should be October 14-23. It officially starts on the new moon of October 15, but some events may begin the day before. Many Thai people observe this vegetarian festival, even if they do not eat Thai vegetarian food throughout the rest of the year.
The Practice of Vegetarianism
During this Thai festival, Thai people practice (เจ, pronounced jay). The word jay is taken from Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, and it means eight precepts observance. One of the eight precepts is the avoidance of eating any animal meat during the vegetarian festival. When a Thai person practices jay, they also keep up a high moral standard of good deeds in their action, words, and thoughts. Thai people have a saying for this Jay eating and religious precept observance, which is teu sil gin jay, or hold the precepts, eat jay. During the festival, Thai people practicing jay must keep their body clean, keep their eating utensils clean, and make sure they do not share utensils with people not observing the Thai vegetarian festival. They must wear white clothing as often as possible, avoid killing or harming animals, and be mindful of their actions and thoughts. During the Thailand vegetarian festival, devotees abstain from sex and alcohol.
Thailand Vegetarian Diet
Jay food goes beyond a Western vegetarian diet, excluding some vegetables and spices as well. These include pungent vegetables such as garlic or onions, because they are believed to inflame the passions and lead people to anger or lust. The pungent vegetables cause people to have too much energy and perspiration. Also, unlike Thai cooking, which uses many hot and spicy chili peppers, Chinese vegetarian cooking finds a more even balance between bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and pungent flavors. In addition, Jay vegetarian food is not made with milk or eggs.
Thailand Vegetarian Festival Celebration
The Thai vegetarian festival is celebrated throughout the country of Thailand, especially in larger cities with higher populations of Chinese immigrants. It is celebrated in the Chinatown areas of Bangkok, known as Yaowarat, and Chiang Mai, known as Warorot. Thai people bring shrines or deities from their homes to Chinese temples to receive spiritual energy. Thai people hang lanterns at the Chinese temples and light candles outside. Loud drums inside and outside the temples scare away evil spirits. Chinese operas perform, and vendors sell toys, fireworks, and of course, delicious vegetarian Jay food and snacks. Thai people celebrate the vegetarian festival each year for spiritual and physical cleansing, merit-making, and to create a sense of inner peace.
Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Thailand’s vegetarian festival is most colorful in Phuket. The origins of this festival are particularly fascinating and can be traced to Chinese immigrants in Phuket. In the early 1800’s, Phuket was a major center of trade between China, India, and Southeast Asia. A large number of Chinese immigrants worked in tin mines and on rubber plantations. In 1825, a traveling Chinese opera visited Phuket to entertain the Chinese immigrants. At this time, the whole town became sick with malaria. The traveling opera paused to observe a strict vegetarian diet and the Chinese Nine Emperor Gods Festival. The traveling opera all recovered from the malaria, even though many people in Phuket died. The people of Phuket were so amazed that they continue to observe this vegetarian festival each year.
In Phuket, the vegetarian festival is celebrated inside and outside Chinese temples throughout the city, as well as during processions between these temples and Phuket Bay. Each temple erects a pole, known as a go teng, or lantern pole, to welcome the Nine Emperor Gods of the Chinese Taoist religion. Each pole is decorated with nine lanterns, and devotees light candles around the poles. Devotees bring shrines or images of deities from their own homes to the temples to receive spiritual energy. Along with the lantern pole, each temple has nine chairs for the gods to sit in. Some temples place statues in the chairs to simulate the invisible gods. These Nine Emperor Gods are associated with the ocean, sea, and sea-faring and may be based on pirates in ancient Chinese literature. The beating of loud drums around the temples and along procession routes scare away evil spirits.
Mah Song of the Gods
The most unique aspect of the Phuket vegetarian festival is the actions of the mah song. A mah song is a man (or very rarely, a woman) possessed by a god during the vegetarian festival. Mah songs parade through the streets of Phuket, walking across hot coals or exploding fireworks and bathing in hot oil. They pierce their mouths, cheeks, ears, and arms with fish hooks, knives, razor blades and bamboo poles. The deity residing within the mah song protects their body from pain and injury. This is confirmed to onlookers by the fact that that very little blood or scarring occurs.
The word mah song is translated as entranced horses or horses of the gods, because the mah song carries a god within them. A person can be chosen by a god to become a mah song at any time in their life, as long as they are unmarried and celibate at the time. In some cases, purification rituals can qualify a person. Often, a person is contacted during a dream, vision, or period of long illness, and a god tells them that they have been chosen to become a mah song. There are several reason that a mah song may be chosen. The person may be close to impending doom or death, and becoming a mah song extends their lifetime. Also, a person may be rewarded for maintaining good moral qualities during their lifetime.
Nine Emperor Gods
Sedan chairs carrying the statues of the Nine Emperor Gods are paraded through the streets of Phuket. These are hoisted on men’s backs and rocked violently back and forth to simulate the Nine Emperor Gods sailing on a rough sea. The mah songs walk among the procession in a trance, wearing elaborate costumes with their bodies and faces pierced. The mah songs crack whips in the air or pass out candy to the crowd. Town residents quietly bow their heads in reverence and gratitude when the mah songs pass by, because the pain they inflict upon themselves shifts evil off of town residents. Mah songs bring their community spiritual cleanliness, good luck, and good fortune throughout the coming year. Town residents eagerly reach for and keep napkins and towels used to wipe a mah song’s sweat or blood. On the final day of the Thailand vegetarian festival in Phuket, the chairs are all carried down to Phuket Bay, so that the Nine Emperor Gods can return to the sea.