Sakda Mongkolnoy let loose at the free-eating litterbugs in a post on Facebook yesterday, calling them “heartless” and saying they “had no understanding of the merit made as part of the festival”.
Sakda is a cook at the Kua Tian Keng Shrine at Saphan Hin, where fellow cooks have had to enter the water along the shorefront to retrieve plates, cups and even spoons that have been tossed into the water.
“This is plan bad,” Ms Sakda said. “Why would a good person take part in the Vegetarian Festival, but then do this? It is plain heartless
“I cook for you, but you do not understand what it means to take part in the Vegetarian Festvial,” she said.
Thousands of people will descend on Saphan Hin tomorrow night to mark the final night of festivities, which traditionally closes with a ceremonial bonfire and fireworks at midnight, with many of the shrines taking part holding street processions to the main shrine at Saphan Hin as their final act for the festival.
The festivities will start early tomorrow, with three street processions – one each in Thalang, Sapam and Phuket Town – starting at about 7am. (For details, click here)
For more details about the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, click here and here.
For a official full account of the festival’s history and symbolic meaning, as well as the program of processions and ceremonies visit: www.phuketvegetarian.com