What is it with Thais and new home rituals?

[NeverSure]

I have a lady friend in Isaan. She just had a new home built, financed with the new home scheme.

Before she could move in yesterday, there had to be a big ceremony with monks and all to "bless" the house.

Further, she had to sleep in the new house for at least the first 3 days immediately after the ceremony. Normally she stays in a dorm at a village school so this meant travel. Sleeping in the house for the first 3 days is supposed to bring her "blessings."

Could this have anything to do with Thais not wanting used houses? Could it be a fear of ghosts or something in a used house?

I go with the flow on this and say nothing, but this is new to me. Has anyone else heard of this ritual?

[notmyself]

There are lots of unusual rituals followed in Los and indeed SE Asia. The one you mention here is quite similar to one I know of southwest of Surat. There must always be someone in the new house for the 3 days after the blessing to encourage good spirits to enter the house. If the house is empty then bad spirits move in because there is nothing to stop them. I've heard a couple of variants of this over the years.

[thehelmsman]

We moved into our new house the same way. We were in a hurry to make house ready for party and moved into house a few nights before the big party which had at least 10 monks in the house for blessing. I posted on here about the size and extravagence of our party only to be told it was overkill.

We kept an ornamental fancy machete in bedroom for a few days after moving in. yeah, I don't know.

[wym]

Yes, it would be very rare for any new building in Thailand to be completed and occupied without many rituals uncomprehensible to westerners.

This includes large modern skyscrapers and resort projects.

Many projects grind to a halt when the works think a jinx is on.

Research the Erawan Hotel, government project and first modern hotel in Thailand. And then ol' square face stealing/replacing Phra Phrom, complete with the human sacrifice of the patsy.

The longer you stay if you really get involved in local beliefs the more and more incredible it gets

If you hang out with westernized Thais they've already learned how to sanitize what they'll talk to foreigners about, speak Thai to those without much exposure to foreigners and you get more of the truth.

[Somtamnication]

Ritual after buying a car (last week).

Salesman: Yes, car will be ready on Monday.

Me: great, see you then. (Sold my old car, I had a rental car).

Wife: Wait, I go to internet.

10 minutes later....

Wife: Husband born on a Tuesday. He 51. So cannot take car out until Thursday. Next Saturday good too!

Me: What!

Wife: Yes, you take car out Monday, bad luck all year.

Fast forward to Thursday...

Wife: NO DRIVE YET. You have to....... before leave dealer.

Me: Got in the car, and drove in a small circle 3 <deleted>' times like an idiot before I could exit.

Good thing about this is that wife bought me lunch that day.

[notmyself]

If you hang out with westernized Thais they've already learned how to sanitize what they'll talk to foreigners about, speak Thai to those without much exposure to foreigners and you get more of the truth.

100% spot on.

I'm fortunate to have a couple of very close Thai friends who are willing to talk about these various rituals and beliefs. Most of the people I know are at least willing to say what is being done but they don't have the willingness to go into the why and the how.

[notmyself]

Ritual after buying a car (last week).

Salesman: Yes, car will be ready on Monday.

Me: great, see you then. (Sold my old car, I had a rental car).

Wife: Wait, I go to internet.

10 minutes later....

Wife: Husband born on a Tuesday. He 51. So cannot take car out until Thursday. Next Saturday good too!

Me: What!

Wife: Yes, you take car out Monday, bad luck all year.

Fast forward to Thursday...

Wife: NO DRIVE YET. You have to....... before leave dealer.

Me: Got in the car, and drove in a small circle 3 <deleted>' times like an idiot before I could exit.

Good thing about this is that wife bought me lunch that day.

Everyone has a price they are willing to pay, that would be to high for me.

[khunsuar]

I have a lady friend in Isaan. She just had a new home built, financed with the new home scheme.

Before she could move in yesterday, there had to be a big ceremony with monks and all to "bless" the house.

Further, she had to sleep in the new house for at least the first 3 days immediately after the ceremony. Normally she stays in a dorm at a village school so this meant travel. Sleeping in the house for the first 3 days is supposed to bring her "blessings."

Could this have anything to do with Thais not wanting used houses? Could it be a fear of ghosts or something in a used house?

I go with the flow on this and say nothing, but this is new to me. Has anyone else heard of this ritual?

It used to be that when a house was sold to another, that the Ham Yon over the bedroom door was taken down and broken. Ham Yon translates into something like magic testicles and was seen as the repository of male energy. No Thai man would want another mans energy in his house. So after the old Ham Yon was broken up, the new owner put his own up.

Generally speaking, the first item moved into a new house is the Buddha icon which is placed in an auspicious and high location.

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[Ricardo]

We too had the special house-warming/blessing ceremony, with a sort of tripod/pyramid in the lounge, which the family had to sit inside for the ceremony.

It was linked with lustral-string from our heads to the tripod to the monks, with chanting & food afterwards (so very Thai), the local villagers who attended took home the remaining food for their families, jolly good sense there !

Thai equivalent of a farang house-warming party, where friends would bring a house-warming present over or, in the old poorer post-war days, come dressed-to-paint & help redecorate the house & then enjoy a bring-a-plate party ! Simple pleasures, in the old times, huh ?

[sam sen]

when you've been here longer you'll realise how superstitious thai's are and how many rituals they have. for all sorts of crazy stuff;

my chinese/thai GF's mum cut a mole off her back when she was a child because she thought it would make her lazy... from what she tells me chinese /thais are even worse than thai/thai's for superstitious nonsense.

[Swiss1960]

If you hang out with westernized Thais they've already learned how to sanitize what they'll talk to foreigners about, speak Thai to those without much exposure to foreigners and you get more of the truth.

100% spot on.

I'm fortunate to have a couple of very close Thai friends who are willing to talk about these various rituals and beliefs. Most of the people I know are at least willing to say what is being done but they don't have the willingness to go into the why and the how.

Exactly. I have stopped trying to understand what it is all about... whether it is lucky car plate numbers... whether it is donations here and there (even in Chinese temples, even though my GF family is 100% Thai...)... whether it is house warmings... whether it's the show for the others or whether it is genuine believe...

have learned not to make a face and just go with the flow...

[robertthebruce]

It all gets a bit too much sometimes...

I always wind up my ''Thai Family'' and say that i have seen a Ghost the previous evening..

It really gets them going...

Bad i know, but thats the devil in me...

[Sirbergan]

Ritual after buying a car (last week).

Salesman: Yes, car will be ready on Monday.

Me: great, see you then. (Sold my old car, I had a rental car).

Wife: Wait, I go to internet.

10 minutes later....

Wife: Husband born on a Tuesday. He 51. So cannot take car out until Thursday. Next Saturday good too!

Me: What!

Wife: Yes, you take car out Monday, bad luck all year.

Fast forward to Thursday...

Wife: NO DRIVE YET. You have to....... before leave dealer.

Me: Got in the car, and drove in a small circle 3 <deleted>' times like an idiot before I could exit.

Good thing about this is that wife bought me lunch that day.

You then went straight to 3 different temples to get it blessed by monks, right? That's what I had to do.

[notmyself]

whether it is lucky car plate numbers

Or phone number! I've had to get a new sim many times over the years at local phone outlets inc. 7/11. Even so called westernized Thai ladies find it hard to choose a supposed lucky number for someone other than themselves.

[Aussiechris]

We have the house ritual today , seven monks 20 people and Baht10000. Weve been in the house for six months so I guess we have been lucky??

[willyumiii]

when you've been here longer you'll realise how superstitious thai's are and how many rituals they have. for all sorts of crazy stuff;

my chinese/thai GF's mum cut a mole off her back when she was a child because she thought it would make her lazy... from what she tells me chinese /thais are even worse than thai/thai's for superstitious nonsense.

Yes, and American parents still believe cutting or slicing off the skin from their male children's penis makes them "cleaner"!

It really doesn't!

Funny the backwards superstitions some cultures still follow!

Want to discuss the practice of pretending to eat the flesh and blood of a guy who has been dead for over 2000 years?

[wym]

Actually in many populations, circumcision is held to be the best hope for reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

And modern medicine has rediscovered valid uses for leeches in surgery.

[Joe Mamma]

I love those house warming parties. Can eat alloy food and drink with the fellers and watch the women of all ages dance and laugh and smile. Well worth the price of admission!

[namdocmai]

They also put a wire around the house and leave that for many months, also after they have changed the house by construction.

It has some religious function, i gues it is like a thai wedding where the wire symbolises the connection with buddha. Maybe it is also to show that you have a new house or had construction on it.

Many houses here have the wire over the fence all around the house..

[thhMan]

After 8 years of this type of nonsense.. I finally put a stop too it.

It encourages a valid fear of ghosts and luck, whether good or bad.

When it got to the point where I could not enjoy a short holiday with the missus, because someone was scared of ghosts, I knew it was time.

So I sat down with the family... Banned all soapies... explained why I did... then said, that if you believe in ghost sh*t, then do it elsewhere as this home is now updated to 2014 specs and those old ways that you worship are gone... Since then, my 2 young kids seem more relaxed and the eldest shocked me when she wanted a comic book on ghosts. I asked why and her reply was... "they don't scare me anymore".....

Edited March 3, 2014 by thhMan

[uptheos]

I guess most Thai people really aren't Buddhist's, they're animists.

Buddha stated that this is how responsible people act:

'They do not get carried away by superstition; they believe in deeds, aspiring to results from their own deeds through their own effort in a rational way; they are not excited by wildly rumoured superstition, talismans, omens or lucky charms; they do not aspire to results from praying for miracles.’

[Somtamnication]

Ritual after buying a car (last week).

Salesman: Yes, car will be ready on Monday.

Me: great, see you then. (Sold my old car, I had a rental car).

Wife: Wait, I go to internet.

10 minutes later....

Wife: Husband born on a Tuesday. He 51. So cannot take car out until Thursday. Next Saturday good too!

Me: What!

Wife: Yes, you take car out Monday, bad luck all year.

Fast forward to Thursday...

Wife: NO DRIVE YET. You have to....... before leave dealer.

Me: Got in the car, and drove in a small circle 3 <deleted>' times like an idiot before I could exit.

Good thing about this is that wife bought me lunch that day.

You then went straight to 3 different temples to get it blessed by monks, right? That's what I had to do.

I thank Bhudda that it was only ONE temple. I got my a$$ chewed by my wife when I **backed** into the building where the monk was. I always back into a parking space. Habit. I had to turn around and drive into the parking space, open all 4 doors and we all had to get sprayed with holy water.

If it wasn't for love, I would not be doing this!!

[circusman]

There are lots of unusual rituals followed in Los and indeed SE Asia. The one you mention here is quite similar to one I know of southwest of Surat. There must always be someone in the new house for the 3 days after the blessing to encourage good spirits to enter the house. If the house is empty then bad spirits move in because there is nothing to stop them. I've heard a couple of variants of this over the years.

Just want to say, your avatar dancing distracts from what you have written (posted). I tend to pass up what you have said just to get away from that darn chicken.

[trainman34014]

I am lucky. My Thai wife doesn't believe in any of this crap and just says it's a waste of time and money. She doesn't answer the door to wandering Monks or other Parasites collecting for Temples or any other reason either. Sensible Woman; that's why i married her.

[Mudcrab]

I was thinking about how stupid these Thai superstitions are, as I avoided walking under a ladder while throwing salt over my shoulder and dodging the black cat. The ladder was there to put up the horseshoe over the doorway, but I tripped over it on the way past and spilt the milk I was carrying. But I didn't cry..

[cloghead]

It used to be that when a house was sold to another, that the Ham Yon over the bedroom door was taken down and broken. Ham Yon translates into something like magic testicles and was seen as the repository of male energy. No Thai man would want another mans energy in his house. So after the old Ham Yon was broken up, the new owner put his own up.

Generally speaking, the first item moved into a new house is the Buddha icon which is placed in an auspicious and high location.

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The new owner nailed his balls to the wall???

[ESCAPIS]

Does this ritual only apply to a newly built house?

Does it apply to moving in an old house too?

[HeijoshinCool]

In my small town of Rhek Thum, there are currently seven new houses. Most have been empty for at least six months, some for over two years. Most are relatively expensive homes.

They are empty.

Why, I asked the GF?

Because they wait to have money to buy new furniture and appliances. They can't take stuff from old house. Bad luck.

[Trentham]

The following is part of an email from my Aussie partner in our resort describing what happened when our Thai partner went to collect our new car.

Well, we did get the car. Last Wednesday. We had to go through all sorts of rigmarole of course – drive it out of the showroom at noon precisely (for good luck); visit the grandaughter of the last king of Nan for good luck; arriving at 12.09 for good luck; parking the car in her garden with all the doors open (to let the good luck in, along with the red ants and mozzies); then to the temple to have it and us splashed with water for good luck; then driving out of town to the first temple in Nan and circling it (tooting the horn first, of course) for good luck; and then driving back to the resort with good luck temple threads hanging from the steering wheel and the rear vision mirror. So much good luck. Then that first night K........ drives it up the bungalows driveway and demolishes the brick pillars and salt pan at the top. So, the next day (which is when I found out about it) his mother kills a chicken and we go to a jungle temple and the good luck process starts all over again. I asked him if I could get my 500bt back from the monk in Nan.

[Johnniey]

I believe in some of these rituals. Better to be safe than sorry. There are just as many where I come from.

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