A devotee had her cheeks pierced with metal skewers during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Thailand.

Graphic video shows the religious local praying with her eyes closed as medical staff pulled out the skewers stabbing clean through her cheeks during a street procession in Phuket on September 28.

They first doused the foreign objects with what appeared to be disinfectant before twisting the sharp rods loose from the lady's flesh, all while she stayed meditating.

Onlooker Toon Thitima said: 'It's amazing how the woman didn't even flinch when it was happening.'

Participants who partake in the gruesome tradition believe that the spectacles of self-mutilation purify their bodies and redirect misfortune away from their communities.

Aside from the gory parades, devotees also abstain from eating meat, meat products, and pungent vegetables like garlic and onion during the festival, believing the practice would purge impurities from the mind and soul.