Spirits And Ghosts In Thailand

[mario299]

A recent post about maternity gifts raised the fact of the many superstitions prevalent in Thailand, a thing that has been of interest to me for some time. I think it started when we built our home and had to set the first post on a particular day "for luck", had to have wise and elderly people there to apologize to the ancestors (ghosts) on our land for disturbing their land, leaves and coins put into the dug post holes for luck, etc.

Since then, many other traditions have become known to me, such as placing the head board of the bed facing east (better to face rising sun than setting sun), first hair cut for new-born (shaved bald after one month by someone with a good and pure heart), obviously the lucky lottery numbers and a host of others.

Can any of the members add to some of these? I would guess many have Chinese origins, but the wife says they are strictly Thai traditions and not restricted to Issan area only, they are held as beliefs throughout Thailand.

Personally I love them, and would like to hear of more. Any help out there?

mario299:blink:

[Tod Daniels]

The glorious "Land 'O Thais" has NO shortage in superstitious beliefs . It is by no means only an Issan thing, and is found almost everywhere in this country from the bustling city of Bangkok to the most rural one buffalo village in Nakhon Nowhere . I doubt seriously the thais thought all the things they are superstitious about up themselves, (but thais will take credit for anything if you let them ). A lot of it has to do with the heavy degree of influence Brahmanism and Animism that has been adopted into thai culture and religious beliefs over the centuries.

I think they may also hold the unofficial world record of being the country with the largest number of different kinds of ghosts. To get an idea, here's a link about some of the types of thai ghosts.

http://ghostsofthailand.com/Thai_Ghost_Types.html

Also here's a funny Sylvania light bulb commercial which shows several of the more popular thai ghosts.

It also uses a funny play on words in that ผีขนุน (phee^R kha^L noon^R) or 'jackfruit ghost' is a thai euphemism for an ugly ladyboy or katoey. Up country they are known for standing under jackfruit trees .

[Tonto21]

Further to a reply I posted in “Thai Tradition - Maternity Gifts” regarding babies and the sprite world.

Keeping with the baby thing, “nicknames”

Why do the majority of Thais have nick names? A lot of westerners think nicknames are given in Thailand like they are in there home country, how a person looks, how they behave or something they have done. OK, some modern Thais, (teenagers) will drop their old nickname and adopt a new (cool) one from the west, but the traditional Thai way of giving a nickname, is at birth. It has nothing to do with how they look, for example a person you may meet with the nickname of Lek (small) if they happen to be small is purely a coincident. The nickname in Thailand is all about confusing the bad spirits, and to stop them being attached to the babies. The names are manly short, e.g.; Mai (not) Gung (shrimp) Gop (frog) Ouan (fat) So, the next time you see a stunning Thai woman and her nickname is “pe” (goat) Just know her parents must love her very much!