Meat-loving Thais turn vegetarian for festival

During the annual 10-day “Tesagin Kin Pak” vegetarian festival, yellow flags representing Buddhism and good moral conduct flutter in the wind above entire neighborhoods, while tiny mobile street carts with a lone yellow flag advertise vegetarian-friendly food.

Glistening tofu, noodles with bean sprouts, desserts made with sesame and ginger and steaming hot vegetable broths abound.

“I give up meat to cleanse the spirit so that my family will prosper,” said Ploy Sudham, who owns an art gallery on the outskirts of Bangkok's Chinatown.

Every year during the ninth Chinese lunar month, the country's Thai-Chinese community — often third or fourth generation Chinese who grew up in Thailand but are brought up with Chinese customs — observe ten days of abstinence.

Eating meat, having sex, drinking alcohol and other habits thought to be vices and pollutants of the body and mind are cut out entirely by the truly devoted, who also wear only white. The belief is that nine gods come down from heaven to inspect the earth and record the good and bad deeds people commit.

The festival began over 150 years ago on the popular tourist island of Phuket, some 840 km (521 miles) south of Bangkok.

Legend goes that a wandering Chinese opera troupe fell ill with malaria while performing on the island but after sticking to a strict vegetarian diet and performing rituals to two Emperor Gods the troupe made a full recovery.

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