Locally referred to as the Kin Jay Festival, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a festival of the Nine Emperor Gods. An annual event, it goes on for nine days and is considered one of Thailand's most bizarre and extreme festivals. Devotees usually give up meat for these nine days, while some even pierce their cheeks with swords, climb ladders made with knife blades, and walk on hot coals to show their devotion to the nine emperor gods. It occurs in the ninth month of the Lunar calendar, between September & October.