Mah song (spirit medium) walks towards the sports field where the fire walking ritual will be held. He is accompanied by a group of companions or assistants (pi liang) dressed in white, the colour symbolising self-purification. Strings of firecrackers are lit and thrown into the street procession as it moves through the town.

A young spirit medium (mah song - ‘horse of the possessing spirit’ in Thai) blesses the crowd by waving his flag over their heads. In Phuket, mah songs are predominantly young people and it is claimed by scholars, that they come from the lower social strata of the local Sino-Thai community. This young mah song has had his cheeks pierced with skewers called “general’s head”, the hilt being a small wooden head of a commander of the Celestial Army.

A female mah song in trance as she awaits to have her cheeks pierced by a male pi liang.

Male mah song (sprit medium) holding a string of firecrackers during a street procession. It is common to see mah songs walk, or jump-step through the streets, as well as shake their heads continuously. This ’trance dance’, as well as the rituals performed in the streets are supposed to purify the environment for the general well being of the community.

The main attire of male mah songs (spirit mediums) consists of a kind of ‘apron’, which fastens across the front of the body. The apron is made of coloured embroidered silk, and proclaims the identity of the shen (or ‘god possessing the medium’). The name of the shen is usually embroidered in Chinese characters at the top of the apron. The apron is worn only by male mah songs and some ‘tomboys’, females who adopt a male identity.

Mah song entering trance. Entrancement usually comes easily and remarkably swiftly to most mah song, especially when it is conditioned by the rhythmical beating of gongs and drums and in the presence of other already entranced mediums.

Female mah song in trance getting dressed by her pi liang Females generally enter into trance in a quieter manner compared to males, though some emit very sharp shrieks at the moment of entrancement. While the men generally enter into trance in front of the altars of male deities, the female mah songs stand in front of Kwan Im’s altar.

Mah song entering trance surrounded by his pi liang at Kathu Shrine. Spirit mediumship is still widely practised around the world. In Chinese folk religion once a medium enters into a trance it is believed that a deity or spirit takes possession of his body, replacing the medium’s own soul, or more accurately the ‘yang element of his soul’ which then ‘wanders about in safe places’. This in turns leaves the ‘yin element’ of the soul in considerable danger. A medium therefore never enters into trance alone, but is surrounded by friends or relatives known as pi liang who attend to the spirit mediums during the major events of the festival.

Mah songs performing in front of a high altar in the yard of the Bang Niao Shrine. The mediums cut their backs with swords, axes or prick balls. A Taoist prayer is also read out, with the public kneeling down and the mediums shouting and waving their flags whenever the bell is rung. At the end of the ritual, pieces of charm cloth and thread bracelets are handed or thrown at the public.

A person is considered to be possessed by a deity at a certain moment in the process of entrancement. Spirit mediums differ in the way that they enter into trance. During the festival, mah songs will deliberately induce trance to coincide with the beginning of a ritual event. The principal medium of the shrine will begin by sitting quietly in the shrines hall. He concentrates and after a while he starts to move his head and arms. Suddenly he jumps up and approaches the altar, bangs it with the palms of his hands- this is the moment in which his spirit is believed to have left him and the god possessed his body. Assistants quickly help him to put on the mediums apron. After this a succession of other mediums start to deliberately seek to enter trance. Soon mediums are seen entering trance all around the shrine. Once they have been quietly assisted to put on their aprons, they exit the shrine, either jumping or running and waving their flags. Soon after that the mah songs quiet down, routinely shaking their heads as they wait to be pierced or to take part in some ritual event.

Gods sedan chairs being carried during a street procession through Phuket town.

Mah song being pierced with multiple needles. The piercing is done without the use of anaesthetic by the pi liang (assistant) or sometimes by experienced piercers who take on one medium after the other in the course of a morning. The needles are cleansed by antiseptic liquid. The whole event proceeds in a very businesslike manner surrounded by on-lookers.

Fire walking Kathu Shrine. The fire-walking ritual is considered a very important ritual of self-purification of the participants. ‘Fire overcomes impurity and repels evil influence’.

Mah song exiting from trance. Although the manner in which mediums enter into trance may vary, generally the way they exit from trance follows a similar pattern. The mah song will jump up and then fall back into the arms of the pi liang. The jump is believed to be the point at which the god leaves the medium’s body and his own soul re-enters it. The assistant is sometimes seen covering the medium’s face and reciting a prayer before the latter revives, rubs his eyes and behaves like a normal man again.

Mah song entering into trance Mediums in trance often communicate in an artificial and shrill, often indistinctive voice, a voice that has been described as the ‘voice of Chinese theatre actors’ by some scholars. In Thai, the medium’s manner of speech is also known as pasha thep, ‘the language of heavenly beings.’

Mah song having his cheeks, arms and torso pierced by his pi liang at Bang Liao Shrine. The piercing objects worn by the spirit mediums differ and do not seem to be iconographically related to the deities who possess them. Some mediums may also change the piercing objects from year to year. This relative openness of the choice of piercing objects has meant that some very spectacular, heavy and/or cumbersome objects have been introduced at the festival over the years , such as axes, guns, swords, bicycles, electric fans parasols to name but a few.

Young male mah song blesses the crowd during a street procession though Phuket Town.