Forget social distancing! Faithful flock to downtown Bangkok shrine to appease Rahu

[webfact]

 

Huge crowds were out in the Huay Khwang area of Bangkok last night.

 

The faithful had a small window of opportunity from 8 pm to 2.24 am to appease Rahu.

 

Some people had arrived bearing the accoutrements of appeasing a God, others, had not and so were thus obliged to partake of vendors' offerings.

 

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The local constabulary were kindly quite quickly on the scene to make sure there were no major disturbances and that the traffic remained relatively fluid. 

 

Sanook reported big crowds even early on and as the night crept towards the Rahu witching hour in the middle of the night tension grew. 

 

Whether Rahu has been successfully appeased is often discovered in the coming months, notes ASEAN NOW.

 

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[edwinchester]

My Thai wife and young daughter are recently recovered from covid. They caught it at one of these Buddhist events or at the stay at a Buddhist retreat immediately after. The doctor who treated them, a family friend, told my wife that virtually all of the large outbreaks in our area are all connected to events such as these. Crazy to keep allowing them to go ahead.

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, edwinchester said:

virtually all of the large outbreaks in our area are all connected to events such as these. Crazy to keep allowing them to go ahead.

But Anutin (Health Minister) says that water splashing and alcohol are the cause!????

[topt]

Had to look it up as either never heard of Rahu or had forgotten.

 

 

 

Having looked at a couple of sites wish I hadn't.

One "explanation" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahu

Buddhist culture[edit]

Rāhu is mentioned explicitly in a pair of scriptures from the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon. In the Candima Sutta and the Suriya Sutta, Rahu attacks Surya, the Sun deity and Chandra, the Moon deity before being compelled to release them by their recitation of a brief stanza conveying their reverence for the Buddha.^[6][7] The Buddha responds by enjoining Rāhu to release them, which Rāhu does rather than have his "head split into seven pieces".^[7] The verses recited by the two celestial deities and the Buddha have since been incorporated into Buddhist liturgy as protective verses recited by monks as prayers of protection.^[8]

 

Or if you are into astrology seems like a seriously nasty bit of work ????

^{https://www.heerejawharat.com/astrology/planets-significance/rahu.php}

[sammieuk1]

Looks like the vaccine queue I unfortunately was in last week ????

[ikke1959]

No problem, no Covid danger because there is no alcohol in the game...

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Huge crowds were out in the Huay Khwang area of Bangkok last night.

Where were the water canons to disperse the emergency decree lawbreakers?

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Tropicalevo said:

But Anutin (Health Minister) says that water splashing and alcohol are the cause!????

He knows as much about the cause as my dog, and that's been dead 5 years.

[Will B Good]

People are forgetting.......they all have amulets.

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

The faithful had a small window of opportunity from 8 pm to 2.24 am to appease Rahu.

Not sure I'd want a God that works daft hours !

Edited March 31, 2022 by RichardColeman

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Faithful flock to downtown Bangkok shrine to appease Rahu

This Rahu needs therapy? Every year?

Whatever...

[unblocktheplanet]

Guess we'll know if Rahu has been appeased or is feasting in the coming months. (Rhetorical question: Are people plain stupid after two years of Covid?!?)

[Lucky Bones]

That photo looked like my local lottery vendor today.

So many lucky numbers to bring forth so much disappointment.

[josephbloggs]

Pretty sure I recognise at least some of the posters decrying this as also saying Thailand's Covid regulations are stupid and we should go back to "normal" like our superior western countries. Welcome to TVF.

Of course, let's just bash a major religious and cultural belief and ignore the hypocrisy, much better.

[Sydebolle]

Don't worry, Rahu is there to fight the nasty, nasty virus on behalf of Anutin and his team of experts. So, flock all to those events with Rahus, Ganeshas and God-only-know-what-else. 

Either the follower of all these spiritual faiths will disappear on a self-destruction programme or the spirits fought successfully. Either way  is OK with me, as long as you leave me in peace with this stuff ????