Country Article / Postcards
Thai Spirits 101
Date: 03/15/2004
A traditional spirit house in modern Bangkok.
Dear Reader,
You'll see spirit houses in Bangkok (and elsewhere in Thailand) outside most hotels, garages, shops, offices, bars, apartment blocks, houses and restaurants. Set on pedestals and resembling ornate dolls' houses, most are made of brightly painted cement, though you will see others of plain wood. Tile roofs and curving gables pointing upward in the dragon symbol give them the appearance of miniature Thai temples.
Just about every place of work or residence has a spirit house--and if there's no room outside, one may be set up in a back room or on the roof. Within Thailand, Buddhism is overlaid with a whole slew of animistic beliefs. Most Thais believe that spirits of the land, called phra phum, inhabit the trees, rocks and water around a dwelling. Some are good, others are bad. When taking up residence in a new building, you have to provide somewhere for all these spirits to live--otherwise the bad ones could get really angry about being disturbed.
Once you've provided a comfortable dwelling for the spirits, the belief is that they'll serve as guardians for your own home or workplace. There doesn't seem to be any consensus as to what can be put inside a spirit house; I've seen miniature figurines of humans, elephants, Buddhas, horses and other livestock--even tiny cars.
Not content with being housed, the phra phum also require regular sustenance in order to stay appeased. Platforms outside spirit houses get bedecked with flower garlands, scarves, candles, pieces of fruit, small offerings of food and drink, and incense sticks.
I quickly became entranced by the idea of finding my own wooden spirit house to take home, and when I was in a museum near Chiang-Saen, I found one. It's fairly small, about a foot high, but it's made from teak wood. A steal at 850 baht ($22).
Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro-editor, International Living
P.S. I'll be posting my complete 14-day Thailand journal online soon for subscribers to the print edition of International Living. I'll include access details with my next postcard.
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