Phuket's Vegetarian Festival 2012

Online, October 16, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Phuket is Amazing Vegetarian Festival 2012

Every year Phuket plays host to numerous festivals and celebrations - both national and international - but the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is arguably the most interesting, unusual, cultural, and delicious of them all.

Held over a nine-day period in September or October, this festival celebrates the Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat, sex, alcohol, and other vices during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them attain good health and enjoy a tranquil peace of mind. The 2012 PVF takes place from the 15th to the 23rd of October.

Though the origins of the festival are unclear, it is believed that it began in Phuket after a wandering Chinese opera troupe fell ill with malaria while performing on the island. The troupe then kept to a strict vegetarian diet and performed various rituals to two of their emperor gods.

As is typical of many traditional rituals and ceremonies throughout the world, people in mourning, and pregnant and menstruating women, are prohibited from participating or even attending the events.

The TAT prepares an excellent brochure each year with a schedule of events which we recommend you consult. It also contains important advice on behavior and dress, such as wearing white and maintaining exceptional personal cleanliness, which one should strictly observe.. The festival is in essence a time of renewal, rejuvenation, and the refreshing of one's mind and body.

For more information on dates and events, please visit at www.phuketvegetarian.com