The origin and development of the Phuket vegetarian festival

Abstract

To trace the origin of the ritual and also to find the causes of the growth and development of the ritual at the national and international level. The study was conducted by qualitative research. The findings indicated that the Phuket Vegetarian Festival originated from Chinese immigrants who settled down in Phuket owing to working for tin mines. Besides their outstanding characteristics they brought this custom with them. The study traces the Vegetarian festival from its original religious ritualistic practices by only Chinese immigrant laborers for tin mining who had come in large of numbers since 1855 (following the Bowring treaty) through the First World War. It then expanded to include increasing participation from local Phuketians especially as the Chinese community assimilated into the Phuket community. In addition, the risen of healthy food trends in Thailand that related to the Vegetarian festival. It also attributed to increasing non-Chinese Thais recognition and practice. Finally, as a result of Phuket’s economy having shifted from dependency on tin exports to tourism and its emergence as a world-class tourist destination, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival has been promoted as a major tourist attraction, expanding its recognition from the local to the national and even international level. In the other words, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has played a key role in this promotion, with its inclusion of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival in its calendar of major events being key in establishing it as an annual cultural highlight.