On those days when nothing goes right at home, when the roast burns, the home-baked biscuits are like rocks, the new tire goes flat, an hyena eats your first dahlia and the cat gets stuck in the tree-top, Asians are prepared, or should be. In the front yard of most Thai homes and businesses, poor or rich, in entrances to restaurants, in enormous gardens of villas, in entrances to hotels, or along the riverside, near fishing ponds, outside caves, in front of bars and discos, there is a spirit house. These “doll house” structures resembling temples, usually painted teak houses in Khymer architectural style and even modern creative ones made of glass, are usually about three to five feet square sitting on 4-5 foot posts and are ornate samples of architecture with rooms and spaces for ceramic figurines and other offerings. Mostly they are filled and flecked with sweets, fruits, incense, candles, jasmine,orchids, roses, colored scarves, all sorts of enticements to seduce the good or evil invisible spirits into their environment and keep them from moving on into homes and buildings to reek havoc. Be they evil spirits or guardian angels, be they the true owners of the land, or spirit houses protecting other spirit houses, these displays are marks of respect and adoration for the spirits of the land, who need to be protected so they will grant prayers and wishes and bring good health and good luck to those living in homes and businesses. And if the structure is important enough, it could become a shrine which thousands would visit with offerings.
The roster of goodies displayed in these doll houses is enticing even to us adults: Thai coconut sweets and cakes abound, fruits, fresh dumplings and other foods, as well as the sweet scent from incense or candles, even Starbucks coffee, cigars, beetle leaf that is chewed, sweet smelling scents and marigold wreaths, small ceramic figurines that always include an old man and an old woman who are caretakers; horses, zebras, elephants and camels representing transportation; and dancers to entertain, as well as expensive gold foil and statues of Brahma, since this is an animist thing. Even family dogs and cats have representation. I asked who really eats these packages of delicious sweets and cakes. There was sort of a non-answer. But someone does because each day they must replenish the offerings and the faithful do that. I think I’ve been most fascinated by the idea of spirit houses than anything I’ve seen in this part of the world and I’ve become obsessive about taking pictures of them, and also about indulging in the delicious sweets produced only in Thailand and found in open street markets.
The origins of these spiritual houses, which can also be found in Vietnam and Burma, in Laos particularly Falang Prabang, and even Alaska, began in the tenth century. It came from devotion to animism., the oldest religion. Now most Thai are Buddhist but the tradition continues, just in case. Animists believe the world is full of spirits (including fairies and elves and other mysterious, mischievous characters in glens, dales, valleys, jungles, trees) and they can be good or evil, picky or spoiled, obnoxious or joyful. They demand respect from humans, and can makes things a mess if not received. And woe to he who fails to inform the spirit when he is going to start a business or improve a business or add a wing onto his home. It doesn’t matter your station in life, any little house will do, just so it is kept clean and filled with offerings based on the abilities of the owner or petitioner and replenished regularly. Now for large buildings like hotels, there are often two spirit houses, side by side, one containing the spirit of place and the other, more elaborate like a miniature palace, some sort of male angel related to Hinduism. When work on a skyscraper begins, the spirit house needs to be in place.
A major issue is what if the owner moves. Moving a spirit house is to be avoided and it could be bad for health if the owner tries to do away with the house. New landowners leave an old spirit house in tact and build a new one alongside it. If it must die, an auspicious ceremony needs to happen with a Brahmin priest or Buddhist monk. Then a spirit house makes its funeral march to its final resting place at a designated and blessed spirit house graveyard. It’s best if near a Banyan tree. If in death it does not rest in peace, the landowner is doomed to find no peace in his life. As if we didn’t have enough problems! Remember the Western tradition at the site of a tragedy or a wreck, stacks of bears and toys and flowers are place in sympathy, in homage, creating a shrine? Well, Asians put a spirit house on the spot or nearby where things have happened. These are often placed at dangerous curves in the road or places where there have been multi accidents. Maybe keeping the spirits happy on these spots will stop such wrecks and tragedies from happening.
Some precautions on placing a spirit house: It is good if it can be placed in front of a tree. It should not be on the left side of a door. If there is a puja (Buddhist room), it should be in line with that. It should not face a toilet or a road (river is good.) It is lucky if it points north or northeast. It should not be in the shadow of a house. At all times, the house should be as enticing and eye-catching as possible, more splendor than bigger, colored lights applauded. The figurines of men and women serve as playthings for the spirit, and the animal figurines as transport. Now miniature cars and plastic jets are parked outside on the platform. These houses are colored according to the day of the week the homeowner was born and are placed facing the direction of that day and color. For instance, born on Sunday, needs to be red and facing West. Monday: white, cream facing Northwest. Tuesday: pink, lilac facing North; Wednesday green, facing Northeast. Thursday, orange, facing East; Friday – blue, facing south; Saturday Black, facing southeast. It must appeal to Phra Phum, the spirit of the house, who lives there. People believe the spirits like the color red most of all.
To have one in your yard or driveway, a Brahma priest must come on an auspicious calendar day to advise you where to place it, sort of a Fung Shui thing. Most sacred, and these are sacred offerings, are those placed in the vicinity of the Bodi or Banyan tree (a ficus), since Buddha came from the Bodi. Even the poorest person will have a spirit house because these offerings keep the spirits entertained so they won’t get into the house proper and wreak havoc and damage. I think it’s a great idea. I wondered if I could do a church spirit house in front of my own, but realized anything I put in my yard would be stolen in an hour. And there is the burden of every single day one must lay out food, flowers and whatever it takes to keep the house thriving. In Thailand, where people respect the religiosity of tradition, no one will swipe your goodies. No one dares to mess with the spirit house stuff.
The most “I can’t believe it” house was one outside the Institute of Assisted Conception. (read that again.) There must have been a hundred zebra figures of all sizes posed all around the spirit house. Someone said when there is a death a good offering is a zebra. We didn’t know if the women descending the stairs had been able to conceive inside that office. Those passing in and out didn’t glance at the spirit house nor the zebras taking up most of the sidewalk. But next door was a huge McDonalds, a red, yellow and white Ronald sat on a red bench. They had no spirit house or shrine, just Ronald, which, I guess, is sort of one. He was wreathed in the odor of meat cooking.
When spirit houses are visited by masses 24/7 due to the belief that its “saksit” is so powerful it becomes a shrine. Chao Mae Tuptin, built by Nai Lert to honor a spirit in the large ficus tree in its midst, became a go-to place for those short on fertility. Now, not only are there wedding dresses hanging from trees, but the place is filled with phallic forms, wooden, ceramic, plastic, not subtle versions, but exactly what i said taller than garden rakes. There is no shame/ embarrassment with phallic images in holy places and/or art and they are also made of bronze, gold, metal, in colors from red to pink to blues and oranges. They are pressed into two Boda tree trunks and in every nook of this tiny shrine park. Another shrine built in 1956 and associated with so many disasters during construction no one wanted to work on that site. A priest advised them to build a shrine to Brahma, and the hotel was named Erawan for the three headed elephant that Brahma rides and brings good luck. This site is always filled with petitioners, marigold and jasmine stringers, lottery ticket purchasing, Thai girls dancing, incense burning and clusters of activity. This was the Erawin Shrine to the Hindu god Brahma and his elephant Erawan, where miracles happen to those who are having severe problems. The supplicant must make an offering of seven incense sticks, a candle, four jasmine/marigold garland and a piece of gold leaf to all four faces of Brahma (i.e. four sides). Then if good things happen, you get what you want, problems get solved, the grateful petitioner must return with another offering of thanksgiving or else bad things return. Such is life.
The Trimurti Shrine is at one end of the world’s largest department store, called Centralworkd, Like so many things in Bangkok, it is out of proportion giant and is the place to be on a Thursday at 9:30 a.m. when young people come in droves to resolve romance and/or marriage problems. If a boyfriend is sought, this is the place to start. Apparently, the tale is that Lord Trimurti descends from the heavens to answer the needs of our hearts. To help it along, offer nine red sticks of incense, red candles, red roses, and fruit. Also surrounding the god forms were large ceramic statues of bulls, zebras and elephants. Lots of them. Although I was only there on Wednesday, the young generation was already filling the shrine with prayer and offering.
Everyday folk who happen upon good fortune turn their faith into exotic and humorous displays of gratitude, not only to the four Buddhas (depending on which path is followed), but also to the Royal Family who generously run this country. In Chiang Rai spirit houses have become estates carved and pasted together by artists with international reputations. Take the Chicken Spirit House, filled with statues created by someone who revers roosters from the size of a dollar to bigger than me, the smaller ones painted the same colors and markings as the giant ones and lined up in rows from street to temple altar. Along with roosters were elephants, zebras and other animals, totaling about 500, grouped in patches on the lawn, at the entrance, up the stairs,and a few in the temple itself. A visitor could actually purchase a red, black, green, and gold rooster on a base with a Thai word for happiness, successful business, gain lots of money and other such rather greedy petitions. Since my family had been in the chicken business and I abhor chicken, I purchased a $5 rooster about a foot tall with whatever the Thai word for Have A Good Time written on its base. I figured this was appropriate in the name of my father and brother who ran the chicken business and have already passed into the heavens. Then one lights three strands of incense and three candles (love of the Trinity) and takes the statuettes up the stairs already crowded with these animals to the altar. At the altar is a statue of the creator of this chicken fetish sitting in a yoga pose, and someone had put a pair of glasses on his nose. Since we were in the area of the hill tribes, they believe in animism and shamanism but it was hard to discern exactly for what they were praying. I know roosters are early risers and regular like clocks and are cocks of the walk.
Then there is the White Temple or Wat Rong Khan. It is so complex and and truly beautiful and spiritual in a strange way that it is hard to believe it came from the creative mind of an artist. The spiritual journey of the artist Chalermchai Kositpipat began in 1997 with the reality being it would take ninety years to complete, knowing he would miss out on the final celebration. This is kitsch at its most glamorous. The white temple trimmed in glass and silver and ornament like I’ve never seen, goes on and on and on. Everything has a reason, a purpose. The spiritual journey of this artist, who has also visited Sun Studio in Memphis and executed a drawing which hangs in his art gallery, follows a tortured, twisted path but everything is white , so in the repetition of forms, one doesn’t seem to have any more significance than the other. For instance, there is a one way entrance to the white temple – like the road to heaven should be. The visitor walks through the “waters of hell” where pools of white hands (500) reach up foir a last breath – only one has a single painted red nail on the middle finger) called Beauty of Anguish. Freaky white skulls, monster heads, nightmare faces hang from frangipani trees and even the Virgin Mary, Spiderman, and George H. Bush ride a missal into this massive spirit temple. Silver and glass mosaic trim glitter in the sunlight. The temple itself was damaged in a storm so that at this time, no one can walk the bridge to the temple for a look inside, no one, then, can walk through paradise. Ugly, vampire like spirit heads hang from trees all around the grounds. Even though most Thai’s today are Buddhist, the tradition of spirit houses are so urgent that even the city of Bangkok has a spirit house that takes up a city block – size is important – that surrounds a large pillar that is supposed to be the exact geographical center of the city.
In Alaska, spirit houses favored by the Athabascan Indians over 800 years ago can be found in one hundred burial sites. The most recognized is in Eklutna outside a Russian Orthodox church. Before the Russian priests mingled with the Danaina tribe, these doll-house size structures helped to satisfy the mourners. Burial was almost impossible because of glaciers and rocks so bodies were cremated, ashes put in birch baskets hung in a tree, so the spirit could travel to High Country. When ground burial became the option because of the Orthodox faith, a blanket was placed across the gravesite to warm the soul as it moved through what was thought to be a forty day passage to eternity. Families would construct, paint and decorate spirit houses, adding prized possessions, and then place the house on top of the blanket. Unlike those in Asia, these memorial houses were allowed to fade away, to rot, to crumble, to be tossed around by weather without repair. The Athapascans believed whatever has been taken from the earth, must be allowed to return, in other words from dust we came, to dust we will return.