Cheek Piercing Festival
Thailand is a land of very interesting concepts many of them firmly rooted in it's very ancient culture. Some celebrations may be a little difficult for the western world to understand and in some cases we may be appalled by the extreme nature of some of these customs however they are what they are and it is interesting to be aware of them.
This celebration in particular is supposed to be a vegetarian festival however it appears that the most prevalent thing in this holiday is pain. Besides people running across hot coals and climbing ladders with rungs made of knife blades the many of the populace fast and eventually pierce their cheeks with all manner of objects and parade through the streets in half trance or a half trance like state.
The photos speeak for themselves from bicycle bars, fans, fake pistols, large needles and even guitars the participants of this festival take it very seriously. I must admit I wouldn't be this bold and to be quite honest I find it quite shocking but I supposed to them it is just their way of celebrating. It is something the will be talked about quite often no just in their home country but also in the western world primarily due to it's shocking nature though.
Either way happy vegetarian festival and a word to the wise maybe just try sampling some veggies. It's bound to be a whole lot less painful.
