Every Autumn the Chinese community on the island of Phuket hold the The Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Vegetarian Festival). For the 9 day duration of the festival the community abstains from sex, meat, alcohol and tobacco to appease the 9 imperial Gods (that apparently descend to earth) so that they will make for a prosperous year ahead. As you would expect the abstainance drives hundreds of these folks absolutely crazy and gives some of them freakish super powers of being able to walk on hot coals, the ability to drive metal objects through their cheeks without and bathing in hot oil all without any trace of harm. True story. The below are some images from this festival (not recommended for the faint hearted).
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