Alright, before it gets too warm and the boyfriend is coming to visit me soon, I feel I should share this with you guys, as the previous entry I wrote on this topic seemed to be very popular and got a lot of viewers… “Thai beliefs and superstitions”. I have more on the subject to share to you guys and this time I will add more about specific Isaan beliefs and superstitions just in case the farangs who got married with Isaan women may find it useful.

Here they are:

• Do not hit the dish with a spoon or fork 

Because it means you are giving a signal to the spirits to come join you for meals, it is related to the Buddhist religious practice of funerals, where the relatives offer food to the dead body. They usually put the tray in front of the coffin and then will hit it with the spoon or fork calling to the ghost (inside coffin) to come eat.

• Do not clean the house at night time 

Haha here in my house we clean the floor by broom (but in western countries they may use a vacuum instead) because it means you might as well take away your money or expensive stuff apart from dust and trash

• Pregnant woman should not go to a funeral 

Because the spirit will get into the tummy and replace the child inside.

• Do not skip three steps because you wont be successful in life 

So just do not skip at all, just take it easy. Oh wow I normally skip two steps as I have long legs, odd really I got tired! In the hotel our room was on the fourth floor *sigh* he was behind me and had to push my butt so I could walk.

• If you smell of joss stick 

It’s means the spirits are around you.

• While eating in the house 

If your hand is touching with another a family members hand, it means you will have guests coming to visit you soon.

• A Barn Owl on the roof 

Is a sign of evil, it brings you bad luck. If you have a family member who is ill, then that person may die soon.

• After three days of death 

The spirit will return home and will realise that they have died.

• When you sleep 

Do not turn your head to the west because that is for dead people, plus it will bring you bad luck.

• When you buy a new wallet 

You will have to put money inside, usually 900 or 9000THB as this is considered a lucky number. C’mon, I’d like to put 900 THB in but cant afford 9000THB! I didn’t do this, I lost my wallet a month ago and bought a new wallet with a few thousands in it. I shall change the wallet again and ask my boyfriend for 9000THB to put in it. Don’t worry! Baht babe not GBP haha!

• Black ants coming to your house 

It’s the sign of rain

• Do not cut your nails at night time 

You shouldn’t do that anyway not enough light! I barely cut my nails I like them long so I can scratch someone! :P

• Do not sing while you’re eating 

Because you will have an old husband… err I honestly don’t know about this one, but I know for sure its dangerous. A friend of a friend almost died when she was eating and singing at the same time. She was eating Santol and the seed got into her throat, luckily she survived as she was sent to hospital quick enough. If you’ve ever seen the real big Santol seed you’ll know what I mean, it’s pretty scary just thinking about it!

• Don’t hold a funeral on Friday 

Or it will bring you bad luck.. Friday is considered a good day for weddings and other good events

• When you see people who has Conjunctivitis (red eye) just show them your tongue 

This reminds me of when I was a student. I used to have red eye, it’s a kind of virus and of course it can be transferred, it usually happens in the rainy season, and I’ve had my friends come to show me their tongue to protect themselves from this virus.

• When you have a bad dream its considered good, but when you have good dream then it will turn out to be bad… well mostly 

Thai people seem to pay a lot of attention to what they dream about, including me. When I wake up I try to think about my dream, and then start searching for the meaning of it. Some people even interpret their dreams to numbers, especially on the lottery day ( every 1st and 16th of the month).

• In the area of their house, Thai people like to grow lucky fruit trees 

Like Starfruit, Jackfruit and Star Gooseberry, as these names have good meanings:

Star Gooseberry – Mayom = You will have a lot of people who admire you.

Jackfruit – Khanun = You will have a lot of people who support you or back you up.

Starfruit – Ma Fueng = The sign of flourishing.

Well, that’s it for my second instalment of “Thai-Isaan beliefs and superstitions”. I hope you found them as interesting to read as I did to write about them, and look forward to hearing your feedback on this or any of my other blogs.

Take care for now, and good luck with everything!

Kit

Where do ghosts and spirits dwell? This is an interesting question if you ask me. I can give you an answer if you like, but I haven’t actually seen one in my whole life, although I’ve experienced mysterious incidents related to Thai ghosts and spirits and I am going to share them with you guys.

As I said, I can give you guys some answers about where they come from, as I have been told these stories by old people I’ve known since I was very young. One of them of course is my dad, who has always been interested in this sort of thing. He has told me that spirits and ghosts can live almost everywhere; for instance in large-old trees.

Examples include the famous female Thai ghost called “Thani”, (นางตานี) who lives in banana trees, and this reminds me of our old house, which used to sit among banana trees that my dad grew.  I’m going to tell you a scary story from my own life, one that I have never forgotten, although it is still mysterious to me. I named this story “Who was that?”

It was a wooden house that we rented, there were many big trees around and of course banana trees. Every evening, after 6 pm it would become very quiet, and we could only hear the crickets making a noise outside. The neighbours had already closed their doors and windows and gone to bed early. There were also some Geckos in our house. Geckos generally stay in wooden houses, so when they made a noise, especially in the night time, I felt scared to death… then one day something mysterious began.

Songkarn Festival or Thai new year happens between April 13-15, and we were planning to travel to the north of Thailand at this time. Before we left my mum went to see the local laundry lady, who we hired, and told her that we would not be at home between the 12-16th of April because of our travelling plans. My mum thought that the lady understood, but as it turns out she went to our house on the wrong day!

She had taken some clothes to our house on April 12th at around 6 pm. When she arrived, she was confused,  as she thought we were leaving on the 13th, the day the festival actually starts, but we had left one day early to avoid the traffic jams. The house was quiet and dark and she said to herself “how come this family didn’t turn the lights on as usual?”. She started yelling “Hello! Is Anybody home?”. Guess what? No reply.

So, she looked up to the balcony, and suddenly she spotted a little girl… whom she assumed was me. This girl was wandering around, seemingly in a world of her own. “Alright” she said “Would you please take these clothes into your house before they get lost?”. No reply. She asked once more “Little girl! Can you take these clothes into the house please?!” …. still no reply. Thinking this very odd, she gave up and left.

When we came back home we found the basket with our clothes in it. A few days later the laundry lady came back to take our clothes to wash, and then she mentioned about how she had come to the house that day, and what happened. We talked about it for some time, and she told me about the little girl. She asked what was going on, and how come I didn’t reply to her? had I got mad at her for some reason? Argh! “NO! that wasn’t me!”  Who was that?!?

In 2010 my boyfriend visited me, and we booked a room to stay at a 3 star hotel.  During the first week things were just fine, and we had a lot of fun. The second week was a bit different though.. as one of the holy days or “wan pra” fell during this week. We awoke early on this morning, around 4am to get ready to visit a local temple. At around 5am, we were finished and ready to go. However, as I tried to open the door to leave  it wouldn’t move. I tried to unlock it and twist the handle, but still it wouldn’t budge. Was it broke? I called to room service to try and unlock the door from the outside with their spare key. We could see the locking button was released, as I could see the staff working from the inside as they tried to open the door, but still it would not open and we were starting to get frustrated.

Then. as I sat on the bed, giving a big sigh, suddenly something happened in my mind… and   I found myself communicating with some invisible person, a spirit in the room that was involved with the situation. I began to talk to that invisible person “Yes I know, I know, thank you for reminding me, I know you need it, but you don’t have to do this you know? I feel a little scared”. I then stood up and tried to open the door again, and guess what , the door opened! Later on I made a call to dad and told him the story and asked him “Why  this happened to me?” He replied “Because they knew that you could sense them and that it would work, you should be glad my daughter, go and help them”.

Or… it could be just the door was broken right? I wanted to think that way, or think that it could just be a coincidence. It’s funny how it  happened at that time, just when I was about to go the temple to make a merit, but then, when I sat down, and talked to that invisible person, promising them that I will make a merit… the door opened. We arrived at the temple, made a merit, and then, after the main ceremony was finished, we poured water at a big tree in the temple area, following the belief that พระแม่ธรณี (Goddess of Earth) will bring this merit to those dead ones.

Over 20 years ago my father journeyed with a famous monk from the north of Thailand, this monk has since passed away (over 10 years ago), but his dead body still lies in a coffin made of glass at his temple near Burma. At that time they journeyed to the mountains for many weeks. This monk was well known for good meditation and incantations. He also produced herbal medicines with incantations in them to heal up wounds. He gave my father a large amount of amulets at this time.

Influenced by my father I got a few but these amulets myself. I was especially interested in the “Boar Tusk” ones, and I own two of them. The boar tusk is a powerful amulet. It has special magic properties that protect you from harm, but my dad says that the owner has to keep at least five precepts, or this wont work, especially with a pharisee (a hypocrite) The boar is known as an intelligent animal, it has magical abilities, and can hide from the hunter well. The tusk I got was from an old boar that had died naturally.

In addition to being a Buddhist, I also worship Shiva,  a Hindu god, as well as Lord Ganesh and Lord Kreshna amongst many others. As a result of these beliefs, I do not eat beef. 

Talking about rituals related to animals reminds me of this story, that shouldn’t be forgotten. Hae Nang Maew (or Khor Fon ceremony) is a ritual custom in the north and north-eastern provinces of Thailand, especially during times of drought. Two people put a female cat put her into a kind of bamboo basket, which is then paraded around the village. Other villagers are invited to join the parade. The parade will travel to different areas to let villagers sprinkle water on the cat. After the ceremony, the cat will be set free. According to traditional belief, this is an auspicious sign for rainfall.

 An old Thai cat breed called “Malerd”, which is a grey colour is often used. The reason is that the grey colour is the same colour as the clouds when it’s about to rain… OMG! thats my cat.

Do you remember a couple of blogs ago when, when I talked about a trip to an elephant farm in Surin that me and my boyfriend went on? Well this blog has reminded me of another Thai tradition! It is believed that when you crawl under the belly of an elephant this will bring you good luck, and all the bad things will be gone… you will have a new  and better life!

Unfortunately my boyfriend wasn’t brave enough to try this himself when he was there, although he was offered the chance as you can see in the video below.

Supplied by Terence Jones. for more information : www.terencejonesmusic.co.uk

Take care then all, until next time,

Kit