pirits reside everywhere in Thailand, and Thai people go out of their way to keep them happy. Animism, or spirit worship, is probably the oldest form of religion in the world, and when Buddhism arrived in South East Asia, it developed alongside this ancient spirit worship. Today many of the beliefs are knitted with Buddhism and form part of everyday life for Thai people.
One of these practices is the use of ‘San Phra Phum’, or spirit houses. The purpose of the spirit house is to provide an appealing shelter for the spirits who inhabit the area where a house or business is built. Permission needs to be granted by the spirits before a new building breaks ground. The spirit house is constructed first, to entice the spirits to move into their own home and not in the house or shop. There are guardian spirits of the house, the garden and the land, as well as ones that guard specifically over rice paddy, bodies of water, and military forts. You may notice that Thais always step over the threshold when entering a house – never on it. The reason – they don’t want to disturb the guardian spirit of gates and stairwells that resides there.
pirits reside everywhere in Thailand, and Thai people go out of their way to keep them happy. Animism, or spirit worship, is probably the oldest form of religion in the world, and when Buddhism arrived in South East Asia, it developed alongside this ancient spirit worship. Today many of the beliefs are knitted with Buddhism and form part of everyday life for Thai people.One of these practices is the use of ‘San Phra Phum’, or spirit houses. The purpose of the spirit house is to provide an appealing shelter for the spirits who inhabit the area where a house or business is built. Permission needs to be granted by the spirits before a new building breaks ground. The spirit house is constructed first, to entice the spirits to move into their own home and not in the house or shop. There are guardian spirits of the house, the garden and the land, as well as ones that guard specifically over rice paddy, bodies of water, and military forts. You may notice that Thais always step over the threshold when entering a house – never on it. The reason – they don’t want to disturb the guardian spirit of gates and stairwells that resides there.
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