Thailand's Vegetarian Festival begins

BANGKOK, October 4 (TNA) - People in several provinces have conducted ceremonies to invite their gods to the Vegetarian Festival, which is set from October 4-13 in Thailand this year. In Trang Province in the Thai South, crowds of white-clad Chinese-blooded Thai people in Muang District joined a ceremony to raise Go Teng, a lantern pole, to invite gods on Friday morning. Such the ceremony also took place in nearby Songkhla Province, organized on the Samila Beach, as participants believe their gods of nine planets will arrive by sea to preside over the Vegetarian Festival. In Krabi Province, also in the Thai South, its lantern pole is as high as five meters tall and nine oil lanterns are hung on the pole to invite gods, while more local youths join the Vegetarian Festival this year. In Phitsanulok Province in the Lower Thai North, white-clad Chinese-blooded Thai people joined a procession in the provincial heart to invite the general public to refrain from eating meat during the 10-day Vegetarian Festival. In Khon Kaen Province in the Thai Northeast, people conducted a ceremony to worship their gods at the Hok Siang Tueng Shrine, where they prayed for good luck and prepared their minds for the Vegetarian Festival. Meanwhile, the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre of Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTTC) has projected that over 40.1 billion baht should be circulated during this year’s Vegetarian Festival, a 6.3 per cent year-on-year increase due to rising prices of vegetarian food but a stable total sale volume of vegetarian food items. The centre's director, Thanawat Polvichai, foresaw this year's Vegetarian Festival should be as active as last year, with the number of people joining the Vegetarian Festival expected to remain at about 29.7 per cent of Thailand's total population as last year. Bangkok’s Chinatown, Thailand’s largest Chinese community and major vegetarian food market, has become lively, as people have started shopping for vegetables and other vegetarian ingredients, the prices of which have not increased much, compared with those of last year. (TNA)