A participant in the Vegetarian Festival walks in a procession through
the wet streets of the Thai-resort island of Phuket with a lawn trimmer
pierced through his cheek in celebration of Taoist Lent on October 2,
2003. Devout Chinese abstain from eating meat products during the
nine-day festival, which involves cultural performances and culminates
with acts of self-mortification. Reuters/Adrees Latif

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