Extreme Piercing at Vegetarian Festival Phuket

Probably the most fascinating and also somewhat gruesome festivals in the world, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is best known for its aesthetic displays of unusual body piercings. You may see devotees with tire irons through their cheeks, or large spikes driven through their tongues. The festival is held for just over a week annually during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, falling somewhere in October. This year it runs from the 11th to the 19th of October.

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival and its rituals are thought by many to bring good fortune to religious followers. Phuket residents of Chinese ancestry, called Hokkien Chinese, follow a strict vegan or vegetarian diet for 10 days for the purposes of merit-making and spiritual cleansing. This is accompanied by sacred rituals at Chinese temples and shrines around the island. Stalls of vegan food are set up throughout Phuket City, and even non-vegans will be suitably impressed by the delicious selection.

The festival started in 1825 the paricipants are not allowed to eat meat or have sex at the time of the festival. For obvious reasons participants are asked to use only sterile blades, spears and guns. According to physicians there is a risk of HIV and hepatitis.

Perhaps the most visual of these rituals are the displays of extreme body piercings with large objects that can range from knives to umbrellas. Devotees, called ma song, may even partake in walking over hot coals barefoot or climbing up ladders that have rungs made of knife blades. Visitors can see the ma song walking in their trances during long parades through the streets on every day of the festival.

2-faced pig

In the odd animals hall of fame, this little piggy takes the cake.

Pigs are a sign of fertility in China, and in the Year of the Pig, this piglet got more than his fair share, being born with two mouths, two noses and three eyes.

Liu Shuping, a farmer specialising in raising pigs, presented the new-born piglet in Xi an, in north-west China’s Shannxi province yesterday.

But it’s not unique. Only last month there were reports of a pig being born in Quanzhou in East China’s Fujian province with two mouths and four eyes.

Crafty Chicks Show ~ November 1st

Next up on my long list of things to do is work for the upcoming Crafty Chicks show! Read all about it and get a preview of the artist's wares here. Below is a shot of some brooches from my display last year ~ I hope to have new brooches, bracelets, scarves, and jewelry this year in addition to new Dandy Dog Accessories! For those of you in the Kansas City area, please stop by ~ otherwise, please visit my etsy store instead ~ I will be adding to it in the near future. Time to get to work!

Sneak Peek ~ Crocheted Rug

Much of my stress is self imposed ~ I tend to take on way too much! I just finished up a project for Crochet Today magazine ~ the rug below. Their editor had seen the rug I did for a DIY contest on designsponge ~ you can see it here.

In this case, Crochet Today selected and supplied me with the yarn ~ I worked out several options and the one below was chosen to complete. I am pleased with the end result even though it took me much longer than I anticipated ~ the crochet part wasn't that time consuming ~ it was sewing it together and stitching in the ends! I wish I would have had time to get some better photos ~ but these were all I managed before I had to ship it off ~ hopefully the magazine will do a better job! The rug along with the pattern will be featured in the January/February 09 issue ~ a good project for the winter months!

{the finished project}

{Sprocket wasted no time testing it out}

Extreme smoker

Feeling Stressed?

{photo via Kent Vogel}

I don't know about you, but lately I have been feeling pretty stressed out ~ work, the economy, my pathetic 401K withering away. Thursday night I was doing my usual ~ catching up on email, trolling the internet, working on a crochet project ~ while watching/listening to tv. PBS had a program on stress that seemed like it might be interesting, so I turned from my usual mindless choices and tuned in. Glad I did ~ it was quite enlightening.

I have always thought that the higher up the corporate ladder, the higher the stress level(because of the responsibility) ~ thus the higher salary. Turns out, that isn't necessarily true ~ it has more to do with dominance and submissiveness. When it comes to stress, apparently baboons are very similar to humans ~ read all about it here. Especially interesting to see what happened to the Keekerok troop ~ I wonder how that could possibly be translated to humans?!

Some help for the stressed: 10 Best Stress Busters. Guess I better get started!

Ghastly masks

When I was looking for some mask inspiration I came upon this photo ~ really creepy! Unfortunately there was no information with the photo, so all I can surmise is that it was taken during wartime ~ looks like a large group of children wearing gas masks ~ maybe a youth group of sorts? Notice that everyone is dressed in what looks to be a school uniform ~ except the troop leaders. Odd and disturbing, but mesmerizing.... almost looks like a parade ~ but why would they be celebrating?

{photo found here}