Chinese Vegetarians Are A Danger To Public Health
THE best opening line of the day: a health warning at the Chinese Vegetarian Festival:
Doctors in Phuket, Thailand, are warning vegetarians at the annual Chinese Vegetarian Festival that piercing their faces with knives, axes, spades and beach umbrellas could expose them to health risks – Fox News
Chinese vegetarians are a menace:
The Phuket Public Health Office advises adherents to sterilize the instruments before inserting them into the skin and “take steps” to prevent viral and bacterial infection, the Phuket Gazette reports.
“Apart from the risks associated with sharp objects, we are also checking to ensure that proper hygiene is being maintained at food stalls by giving advice to vendors,” the health office told the newspaper. Samples of vegetarian food is inspected for safety, the health office reassures.
Why do it?
According to local legend, Ma Song or “entranced horses” possess the bodies of devotees and perform self-torture to absorb the evil from their host bodies to themselves. “Handlers” are assigned to entranced devotees to escort them around town with spears, poles and lanterns protruding from their skin, according to the festival’s Web site, PhuketVegetarian.com.
Celebrants keep a strictly vegetarian or vegan diet for part of all of the 10-day festival to avoid inflicting pain and suffering on any life form, with the exception of themselves.
When lettuces scream…
Posted: 6th, October 2008 | In: Strange But True Comments (6) | TrackBack | Permalink
