Phuket Vegetarian Parade Highlights Spirit Mediums and Iron Fan Maiden
Phuket’s Vegetarian Festival parade featured spirit mediums performing acts of self‑mortification and the graceful ‘Iron Fan Maiden’ holding her iron fan. The procession, involving the Jiang Ong and Hok Leng Kang shrines, wound through the city toward Sapan Hin, drawing large crowds of locals and tourists. A fire‑walking ceremony is scheduled for later that evening at the Jui Tui Shrine.
The Phuket Vegetarian Festival parade on October 14, 2026, was lively, with spirit mediums demonstrating supernatural powers and the much‑talked‑about ‘Iron Fan Maiden’ taking part in the faithful procession, holding her iron fan with poise. That evening a fire‑walking ceremony will take place, another important rite of the vegetarian observance. The festival, running from October 10 to 18, 2026, reached its fifth day overall and the fourth day of the Invocation of the Gods (iou gai) ceremony. Two major shrines organized the processions: the Jiang Ong Shrine opposite Vachira Phuket Hospital and the Hok Leng Kang Shrine at the port. Amid thick crowds of Thai and foreign visitors, the first procession from the Jiang Ong Shrine featured male and female mediums displaying their powers by stabbing themselves with swords, spears, and other sharp objects—both real and replica—to absorb bad luck on behalf of those keeping the vegetarian precepts, inspiring faith and awe among onlookers.
The second procession, from the Hok Leng Kang Shrine, was led by Sueksun Town Mayor Chalermpoem Koetrap, acting as chairman of the shrine’s vegetarian festival committee, together with shrine officials and devoted devotees. They carried the deities out to bless the participants, seeking auspiciousness. The parade began at the intersection near Phuket Rajabhat University, proceeded along Thep Krasattri Road through various city streets, and headed toward Sapan Hin to perform the rite of returning the incense‑candle smoke to the shrine. Within the procession, male and female mediums brandished a variety of weapons—including knives, spears, rice‑reaping hooks, barbary spears, and replica guns—while spectators watched closely.
A highlight of the Hok Leng Kang Shrine parade was the ‘Iron Fan Maiden’, a beautiful female spirit medium who accompanied the procession holding her signature iron fan with graceful movements, drawing attention from locals and tourists alike. Later that evening at 8:00 p.m., the Jui Tui Shrine will hold its fire‑walking (koi hoi) ritual on an empty lot beside Luang Pho Road in Mueang Phuket District, another key event of the vegetarian festival.
The following day, October 15, 2026, marks the sixth day of the festival and the fifth day of the procession series, with the Bang Neow Shrine set to begin its march at 6:00 a.m.
