Frenzied Thai locals jostled to grab ritual food being offered to the dead at an annual Buddhist festival.

Footage shows the villagers raiding a pavillion to snatch their share of the feast laid out for the spirits in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand, on October 14.

They were celebrating the Sat Duan Sip festival or the 'Festival of the Tenth Lunar Month' during which the departed are said to return to visit their living relatives.

In southern Thailand, residents prepare food known as 'Tang Pred' as offerings, and place them beside temples or beneath trees to appease suffering spirits called 'Preta' or hungry ghosts.

After the Tang Pred ritual, villagers would then eagerly try to snatch the offered food, which is believed to bring good luck, in a ritual called 'Ching Pred' or 'taking things from ghosts.'