Nine Emperor Gods Festival

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Nine Emperor Gods Festival
During the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand, streets are filled with food stalls offering vegan Thai and Chinese food, e.g. buns and dim sums with mushrooms.
Official name	Vegetarian Festival or Jay Festival
Observed by	Taoists
Significance	To commemorate to honour the gods on a large scale for nine days
Celebrations	Praying, eating pure vegan food
Observances	Offering food, burning joss paper, chanting of scriptures
Date	1st night of the 9th lunar month

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The Nine Emperor Gods Festival (Min Nan Chinese: 九皇爺誕; Malay: Perayaan Sembilan Maharaja Dewa; Thai: เทศกาลกินเจ or เทศกาลกินผัก (called in southern Thailand)) or Vegetarian Festival or Jay Festival is a nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar, celebrated primarily in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Southern Thailand by the Peranakans community. In Thailand, this festival is called thetsakan kin che (เทศกาลกินเจ), the Vegetarian Festival. It is celebrated throughout Thailand, with the festivities at their height in Phuket, where over the half of the population is Peranakans. The Phuket Vegetarian Festival attracts crowds of spectators because of many of the unusual religious rituals that are performed.^[1][2] The Vegetarian Festival takes place at the same time as the Hindu festival Navaratri.^[3]