Have you ever heard of or know what a Thai spirit house is? No, it’s not a bar, it’s not that kind of spirits! A Thai spirit house is a miniature house that are for what else, but actual spirits! You know, ghosts and the likes! You’ll find these small spirit houses in front of homes, office buildings, hospitals, restaurants, under the bridge (for real), and anywhere and everywhere where there are people living or working. Thai people are very superstitious (including myself to a certain degree), as we believe that every place have a sort of guardian spirit residing in the area. The small house is an offering to these spirits and you’ll also find that people will place foods, drink, and flowers in the spirit house as offerings as well. This is an act of appeasement and to ask the spirits for protections and to bring good luck to those living in the area. Some people even ask or pray for the winning lottery numbers in front of the spirit house. For those that are fortunate, the winning numbers are told to them in a dream. There have been countless winning stories from this in fact. I’ve never done so myself, but perhaps one of these days I will, with the economy the way it is now 

If you’re curious to know how this has anything to do with Buddhism, well it doesn’t! This belief has nothing to do with Buddhism, as it’s a belief that goes back before Buddhism arrived in Thailand, when people practiced animism and Brahmanism. So today, you see spirit houses, elephant statues, 4 faced Brahma statues, as well as statues of Genesh, the Hindu elephant god of luck and prosperity.

My advice to you when seeing these spirit houses is to just look or take pictures if you like. However, do not do or say anything that would be disrespectful. There’s a saying in Thai that “If you don’t believe, then don’t disrespect”, because “you never know”! If you disrespect, something bad may happen to you, like a massive, “Mother of all” diarrhea that will keep you in the hospital the whole time here   OK, didn’t mean to scare you, but please just be polite.
We love to hear from you! Please do share your Thai Xperience with us!