The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is held annually in Phuket, Thailand. For three months prior to the festival participants must remain celebate and vegetarian. This is to purify the body and prepare it for spirit to enter and prove the power of spirit over flesh. The dates are chosen on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Participants enter a Chinese Budhist Temple and through a ceremony a disincarnate spirit enters their body. Objects are inserted though the face, tongue, ears etc. Parades are held daily around the island. Apparently, when the skewered objects are removed miraculous healing takes place although I did not witness that.