5 of the Biggest Festivals in Phuket
Festivals are a massive part of Thai culture. They use them to show their gods respect and loyalty and bring their community the best of wishes and luck. A festival will always consist of vibrant colours, food, dancing and entertainment.
Phuket Old Town Festival
The Old Phuket Town Festival is an annual festival that coincides with the Chinese New Year. You will see rickshaw rides, free boat rides, light shows, cultural parades, Chinese folk dances, Chinese dragon dances and beautiful costumes. Let’s not forget to mention the large amount of authentic street food stalls that line the streets of Old Phuket Town – so forget dinner before you go!
Wat Chalong Fair
Also coinciding with the Chinese New Year is Wat Chalong Fair. Held at the Wat Chalong temple for 10-days, it’s filled with stage shows, firecrackers, chaotic markets, carnival rides, bouncing castles and gorgeous flower stalls. Not to mention the food stalls and array of fried insect stalls for those bold enough to try!
The fair is also a time to pay your respect to the Buddha by lighting candles, offering incense and lotus flowers, and pasting gold leaves on the Buddha statues.
Songkran
Songkran (also known as the water festival) is a festival not only celebrated in Phuket but all over Thailand. It is the Thai New Year. It is celebrated around mid-April and is a festival to mark the beginning of the solar calendar. It entails pouring water over all! Young, old, senior monks and the Buddha statues. It signifies purification and the washing away of one’s sins. It brings good luck for the year to come. If you are ever in Phuket at this time of year, it’s best to arm yourself with waterproof equipment and a water gun!
Phuket Vegetarian Festival
Celebrated by the large Chinese community in Phuket, is the vegetarian festival. It is one of the most extreme festivals in Thailand and is not for the faint-hearted. It is a 9-day event where devotees refrain from eating vegetables, sex, alcohol and wearing white. This brings physical well-being, spiritual cleansing, merit-making, good luck in the future, and ensuring prosperity and long life. What makes it incredibly extreme is the display of self-mutilation. Men and women will puncture their cheeks with sharp objects. They believe the Chinese Gods will protect them from harm. Other participants will walk in a trance, running across a bed of burning coals or climbing ladders of sharp blades. These are all religious rituals used to purify the body and mind.
Loi Krathong
Usually falling in November, Loi Krathong (also known as Thai Light and Lantern Festival) is celebrated across Thailand and is a beautiful cultural experience. Taking place by large bodies of water, Thai pay respect to the water goddess by releasing a floating offering in the hope of good luck for the year to come. The floating offering is a beautiful round raft decorated with banana leaves and flowers and holds a candle or three incense in the centre. They use this moment to apologize to the water goddess for any water contamination in the past year. Also, flying lanterns are released, illuminating the sky with hundreds of flickering lights. It is beautiful to watch. It does not end there, however. Where there is an event, there are always local food stalls, entertainment and a party.
