Thailand only: Four year old twins ‘get married’ to help ward off evil spirits

[coulson]

They must be some pretty dumb evil spirits.

[keithathome]

how many of you have been baptized? Any difference?

How many of you CHOSE to be baptised do you mean ? I didn't get any say in it. Waaaaaaaah waaaaaaaaah.

[kinmaew]

"Trick the spirits"? I cannot believe people can be so stupid but again their whole hollow belief system propagates this idiocy.

[cookee68]

Hillbillies comes to mind, along with stupid ignorant uneducated morons

[NongKhaiKid]

The worst IMHO is that Buddhist monks cautioned this...(can't find a decent word to qualify it) by accepting to participate! Will they be defrocked...?

That a whole community seems to have been involved in it too, shows how retarded many of those 'grassroots'' areas are. And then such 'people' are considered able to express a vote? This story should be mailed to the policy makers of the USA, EU, and UN to show them how close Thailand is to become a 'democracy'...

Yes, you'd like to think the monks would have shown some leadership but since there would be ' donations ' heading their way there would be no problems.

The villagers were on for a free party so no concerns there.

It's too much to hope that any govt department will get involved in this.

[gemguy]

You just have to wonder.

Did anyone try to talk them out of this voodoo magic ceremony??

Probably not rather they all encouraged it as a brilliant idea...lol

Still....I like living here in Thailand ...and, after all these years I feel I can sometimes be like the Thais and tell myself: "I did not see that"....."Not my concern"..... "Do not want to get involved, thanks"

Cheers

[gemguy]

"Trick the spirits"? I cannot believe people can be so stupid but again their whole hollow belief system propagates this idiocy.

If I recollect correctly there are 20 plus spirits that the Thais believe in.......and I swear to Buddha every Thai person I have ever asked if they have seen a ghost has told me YES...."They" have seen a ghost....a real one that is...lol

I have come to the conclusion that sooner or later every Thai person is asked by some other Thai person if they have seen a ghost during their life while the right answer is to say Yes...and then tell everyone their ghost story..... while children are continually told stories about ghosts and spirits...sort of like we have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy...and oh yeah...don't forget Dracula and the Mummy....but the Thais never really grow out of it while ghosts and spirits, all 20 plus of them, eventually becomes part of their inherent believes while the many events that effect their lives have something to do with the ghosts and the spirits.

Is that part of Thai Buddhism or a separate matter...I wonder??

Cheers

Edited November 16, 2015 by gemguy

[Pimay1]

"Trick the spirits"? I cannot believe people can be so stupid but again their whole hollow belief system propagates this idiocy.

If I recollect correctly there are 20 plus spirits that the Thais believe in.......and I swear to Buddha every Thai person I have ever asked if they have seen a ghost has told me YES...."They" have seen a ghost....a real one that is...lol

I have come to the conclusion that sooner or later every Thai person is asked by some other Thai person if they have seen a ghost during their life while the right answer is to say Yes...and then tell everyone their ghost story..... while children are continually told stories about ghosts and spirits...sort of like we have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy...and oh yeah...don't forget Dracula and the Mummy....but the Thais never really grow out of it while ghosts and spirits, all 20 plus of them, eventually becomes part of their inherent believes while the many events that effect their lives have something to do with the ghosts and the spirits.

Is that part of Thai Buddhism or a separate matter...I wonder??

Cheers

Evidently it is a part of Thai Buddhism because when the gf's mother died the monks instructed the gf to wrap the entire outside of the house with a string to keep the mother's ghost from entering the house.

[mikebell]

'Incest' - a game all the family can play.

[TPI]

Sounds real strange, but then again someone being crucified and coming back from the dead is just as strange. Only atheism makes any sense because it relies on facts not unproven beliefs.

Typical cynical (closed minded) statement from the atheist religion/cult with its arrogant cult leader Richard Dawkins!

Trolling?

[phuketruski]

warding off evil spirits, twins marry each other , are we still in the dark ages people?

[roo860]

The stag night was in Toys r us.

[AlQaholic]

Stupidity celebrating one of its great moments.....

[cockatoowho]

the longer i stay in thailand, and the more i learn about thai culture and experience it, the more i realize how strange this place is. No offense.

No offence taken, it is called still swinging in the trees.

[Linky]

Sounds real strange, but then again someone being crucified and coming back from the dead is just as strange. Only atheism makes any sense because it relies on facts not unproven beliefs.

Atheism is not based on facts at all, it is still based on belief. Unless you can prove there is no God.

Quote from Carl Sagan.....

An Atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An Atheist is someone who knows there is no God. By some definitions Atheism is very stupid.

Sagan recognised that claiming there is no God is as irrational as claiming there is one.

[Kickstand]

This should clear up the Jesus thing

[cockatoowho]

These people are silly, we all know don't we that the evil spirits cannot be tricked only the good ones can?

[johnhw]

verging on child abuse, ridiculous.

Is that "child abuse" like threatening children with eternal hellfire if they don't believe EXACTLY what their parents believe?

Don't know what branch of Christianity you were raised in but my parents were fairly observant Roman Catholics. Confession, communion, confirmation, church on Sundays and religious days. Not once was I ever threatened with damnation for wrong doing. It was made clear that repentance was necessary if I wanted forgiveness but hellfire was for mortal sins.

Personally I'm an atheist and don't give a toss what faith a person does or doesn't follow but it's not fair to say all Christians threaten their kids with damnation.

I'm sure some do but many are somewhat more rational than that.

I can introduce you to intelligent, mature ADULTS who, after many years turned atheist, still have nightmares about the hell and punishment they were indoctrinated with as children. Obviously, exceptional cases, like this Thai incident. So let's trade your upbringing with the Catholic teaching in Africa that using condoms is a sin...hardly helpful for ending the epidemic of AIDS.

[ParadiseLost]

Anywhere else in the world this would be called pedafilia.

Only by ignoramuses...

[ParadiseLost]

The worst IMHO is that Buddhist monks cautioned this...(can't find a decent word to qualify it) by accepting to participate! Will they be defrocked...?

That a whole community seems to have been involved in it too, shows how retarded many of those 'grassroots'' areas are. And then such 'people' are considered able to express a vote? This story should be mailed to the policy makers of the USA, EU, and UN to show them how close Thailand is to become a 'democracy'...

Do you seriously think this is a real marriage?

Do you consider the marriage of matching elements such as music genres to be perverse? Or Nuts and bolts can be married, as can matched pairs of playing cards...

Wikipedia has two definitions of marriage, one is the traditional man loves a woman crap, and the second - a combination or mixture of two or more elements. "a marriage of jazz, pop, blues, and gospel"

You are seriously anti gay marriage I guess as the word seems sacrosanct to you...

[Bluespunk]

verging on child abuse, ridiculous.

Is that "child abuse" like threatening children with eternal hellfire if they don't believe EXACTLY what their parents believe?

Don't know what branch of Christianity you were raised in but my parents were fairly observant Roman Catholics. Confession, communion, confirmation, church on Sundays and religious days. Not once was I ever threatened with damnation for wrong doing. It was made clear that repentance was necessary if I wanted forgiveness but hellfire was for mortal sins.

Personally I'm an atheist and don't give a toss what faith a person does or doesn't follow but it's not fair to say all Christians threaten their kids with damnation.

I'm sure some do but many are somewhat more rational than that.

I can introduce you to intelligent, mature ADULTS who, after many years turned atheist, still have nightmares about the hell and punishment they were indoctrinated with as children. Obviously, exceptional cases, like this Thai incident. So let's trade your upbringing with the Catholic teaching in Africa that using condoms is a sin...hardly helpful for ending the epidemic of AIDS.

You did read the part that I'm an atheist, right?

I don't support the churches teaching on a whole range of issues.

I lived in Africa for 2 years and lots of men chose not to wear condoms, but not because of the churches teachig.

My point was, is and will continue to be, not all children are threatened by their parents with hell.

[Artisi]

This should clear up the Jesus thing

Better be careful, there will be many out there somewhere baying for your blood even though it's against their religion.

[Artisi]

"Trick the spirits"? I cannot believe people can be so stupid but again their whole hollow belief system propagates this idiocy.

If I recollect correctly there are 20 plus spirits that the Thais believe in.......and I swear to Buddha every Thai person I have ever asked if they have seen a ghost has told me YES...."They" have seen a ghost....a real one that is...lol

I have come to the conclusion that sooner or later every Thai person is asked by some other Thai person if they have seen a ghost during their life while the right answer is to say Yes...and then tell everyone their ghost story..... while children are continually told stories about ghosts and spirits...sort of like we have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy...and oh yeah...don't forget Dracula and the Mummy....but the Thais never really grow out of it while ghosts and spirits, all 20 plus of them, eventually becomes part of their inherent believes while the many events that effect their lives have something to do with the ghosts and the spirits.

Is that part of Thai Buddhism or a separate matter...I wonder??

Cheers

Evidently it is a part of Thai Buddhism because when the gf's mother died the monks instructed the gf to wrap the entire outside of the house with a string to keep the mother's ghost from entering the house.

Glad you specified "Thai Buddhism" as it certainly isn't Buddhism.

[Artisi]

Sounds real strange, but then again someone being crucified and coming back from the dead is just as strange. Only atheism makes any sense because it relies on facts not unproven beliefs.

Atheism is not based on facts at all, it is still based on belief. Unless you can prove there is no God.

Quote from Carl Sagan.....

An Atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An Atheist is someone who knows there is no God. By some definitions Atheism is very stupid.

Sagan recognised that claiming there is no God is as irrational as claiming there is one.

If you believe what Sagan has to say, I must be irrational - but I don't agree so therefore I am not irrational.

[Artisi]

"Trick the spirits"? I cannot believe people can be so stupid but again their whole hollow belief system propagates this idiocy.

If I recollect correctly there are 20 plus spirits that the Thais believe in.......and I swear to Buddha every Thai person I have ever asked if they have seen a ghost has told me YES...."They" have seen a ghost....a real one that is...lol

I have come to the conclusion that sooner or later every Thai person is asked by some other Thai person if they have seen a ghost during their life while the right answer is to say Yes...and then tell everyone their ghost story..... while children are continually told stories about ghosts and spirits...sort of like we have Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth fairy...and oh yeah...don't forget Dracula and the Mummy....but the Thais never really grow out of it while ghosts and spirits, all 20 plus of them, eventually becomes part of their inherent believes while the many events that effect their lives have something to do with the ghosts and the spirits.

Is that part of Thai Buddhism or a separate matter...I wonder??

Cheers

"Is that part of Thai Buddhism or a separate matter...I wonder??" probably yes but as Thai Buddhism is so screwed up who would know -- but Buddhism it's not.

[Artisi]

They must be some pretty dumb evil spirits.

Probably an equal number as there dumb believers.

[ParadiseLost]

Thailand is a Bahtist society:

Rules only apply to those with insufficient wealth as they obviously did something wrong in a previous life and therefor deserve what they get today. Not my problem.

[bangrak]

In modern societies it is not allowed for brothers and sisters, and cousins in the first grade, to get married together, nor is it possible for un-related under a set minimum age corresponding to basic intellectual maturity.

This nowadays only remains possible in some 3rd world countries, which are ruled by tribal and feodal powers, and whose un(der)educated populations still follow ancient traditions dominated by superstition and magic. A bit like Thailand...

It was only a 'village marriage" so no law broken and is perfectly accepted in their local society. We all have superstitions ... do you stand on the cracks between the pavements?

'It was only a 'village marriage'...', maybe you don't know many, many, 'marriages' in Thailand are of the same kind, cautioned(!?) by the rites performed by Buddhist monks, but never made official, recorded and on paper, by the local administration, leading to a lot of problems (//rights & obligations, children, separation, inheritance, ...polygammy, etc.), and not totally confined to the lower strats of the population, as shown f.i., just to name one, by Yingluck Shinawatra, 'rightfully' called 'Miss', being only a 'concubine', as her 'marriage' in front of monks (+ Chines rites) was not made official (maybe because the lucky-father-to-be's family was not part of the 'elite'?) with the administration... So, 'married' for local Thai people, 'single' for the Thai administration, Thai 'logic'? 'No law broken' you write, but for sure broken the golden rule of common sense, ...IMO.

[balo]

So what happens when they grow up , will they stay married ? Twins married and maybe have sex and babies ? Is that the plan to avoid evil spirits ?

[Chicog]

I think I would rather support a religion that believes in prolonging life than one which wants to race into the next one no matter what cost to anyone else.

It's a quirky little bit of Thai culture, I wouldn't worry about it too much.