Cakes in the shape of turtles are made from flour, some quite large. This is done because turtles live to great age and it is believed that by making such offering worshippers may extend the length of their lives. It is an important merit-making festival. Phuket Vegetarian Festival Is held from the first through the ninth nights of the ninth Chines lunar month, that is in September or October. It was first celebrated in 1825 when a troop of actors enacted these rites to ward off a plague.
Vegetarian food is eaten by participants and white clothes worn during the period of the feast.
Self-mutilation is practiced by those whose bodies become the temporary residences of powerful gods. Participants number in the thousands. The whole forms one of the most bizarre festivals in Thailand. This annual yearend event sees the world's top triathletes and hundreds of amateurs competing for prize money and placing on the world triathlon circuit. In English, from the place where celebrations occur, and are held starting 1 November.