Annual Vegetarian Festival

A devotee of the Chinese Bang Neow Shrine with his cheeks pierced by metal rods waits for the start of a street procession during the annual Vegetarian Festival in the southern Thai town of Phuket. During the festival, which begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts nine days, religious devotees slash themselves with swords, pierce their cheeks with sharp objects and commit other painful acts to purify themselves, taking on the sins of the community.