I have mentioned spirit houses or San Phra Phum as they are called in Thai in a couple of previous blog posts but have never been closely involved with one. Well that was all about to change today.
Spirit houses are the mostly concrete but sometimes wooden structures often found in the corner of businesses and private houses in Thailand. They are often decorated with little figures, ornaments, flowers both real and plastic, food and drink.
A spirit house with a view. This photo taken on our first drive to see the family in Isaan.
A friend of ours called Mark, a student of Thai language at the university here, decided to buy one. He’s a Thai enthusiast and wanted to incorporate one into his garden so with the help of one of his Thai friends chose a modest structure from a warehouse sort of place just down the road from us on the 1001 in Maejo. For interest and quiz contests the ones with a single pedestal are for general spirits, the ones with four legs, such as the one shown in the photo above, are for family ancestors.
The spirit house looking a bit forlorn in its pre-ceremony state.
Like me Mark had assumed that spirit house philosophy was part of the Buddhist culture and so had asked another friend of his, a Buddhist monk, whether he would do a blessing ceremony on the house. The monk told him that this wasn’t the case. Buddhism doesn’t believe in spirits and the inauguration ceremony would have to be done by a Phor Pham – this is what he’s called in Isaan, Phu Jan in Northern and Central Thai. Luckily the monk knew of one, an ex-monk, and agreed to bring him along.
Mark was over for dinner at our place and told us that this was happening 7.00 am today and, despite the unholy hour of the morning for us retired people, I told him we definitely wanted to be part of this unusual experience.
Mark lives in a mostly Thai Moo Baan (village) about twenty minutes from us off the 118, which is the main road from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai.
Mark’s street in his Moo Baan.
Mark’s two bedroom house, which he has put a lot of work into making very homey.
We were on the road at 6.30 this morning and had a super clear run to Mark’s place helped by the fact that today is a public holiday here either for May Day or Labour Day. Mark was providing breakfast, which for Thai’s means a full lunch type set-up, especially as monks were involved and I will explain that later.
The ceremony was supposed to start at 7.00 but being Thailand no one had turned up by then. I think we got started closer to 8.00 once the local taxi bus has arrived with two monks and the Phor Pham master of ceremonies. More food has appeared in the meantime and it looked like we were feeding the entire Moo Baan, rather than just handful of us.
The Phor Pham also brought additional material for the ceremony and an extra table was required to set it all out. We moved a desk from Mark’s teaching room into the garden and all was good to go.
Monks as observers mostly although they did help out.
Some of the ceremony items included the following:
There were six of these little baskets.
These banana leaf baskets contained things like water, banana, sugar cane, a traditional cigarette made out of banana leaf, beetle nut, rice of course, cucumber, candles, a tea leaf bundle and a few other things. They were placed on this structure representing the four compass points plus the spirits above and below.
The four points plus one basket higher in the centre for the spirits above and one on the ground for those below.
One of the offering baskets up close. A lot of work has gone into these
No ceremony would be complete without a bottle of Thai whisky:
The spirits are into their spirits. Another offering package.
As well as these more formal offerings there was also the food. All types were on display in case the spirits were fussy eaters.
Happy Hour contributions.
Not to worry. The Thai’s are sensible too especially around the subject of eating. The food that was reusable here ended up going to one of the department’s at Chiang Mai university for what they call their “happy hour”, which is more to do with food and less to do with grog than Australia.
Everything in place the blessing ceremony itself got underway. Mark being the owner was up front and the Phor Pham started the super fast chanting process, which is done in a “dead” language called Pali, originating from Indian Buddhism, Wikipedia link HERE.
Underway. Mark at the back.
Me doing what I do best – stand around watching.
A mixture of things in water, which were stirred around and then the water sprinkled on the offerings. Not too technical for you I hope.
If you want to see and hear Pali being used in the ceremony then you will find this YouTube clip interesting:
More contributions from the Phor Pham to encourage the spirits to move into their new abode.
No ceremony is complete without joss sticks.
The house being decorated.
The little figurines waiting to be placed. These are servants to the spirits represented by the golden figure at the back.
“Mark’s” monk helping out.
The figurines representing the spirits and their servants being put in place.
A YouTube video of the San Phra Phum being decorated is available below:
Onlookers. The cool dude on the left is the taxi driver. He’s 67 and has a 34 year old wife, so it’s not just foreigners picking up younger women over here.
All done.
The main spirit inside and the servants outside as it should be. Also dancing girls and elephants as essential here as a dishwasher to an Aussie one!
Another view.
Debrief!
The proud owner of a San Phra Phum.
The ceremony over, which took maybe 30 minutes it was time to eat. Because there were monks present they get to eat first and everyone else waits until they are finished. By tradition and following the Buddhist “rules” Monks only eat twice a day. They have a very early breakfast and then a main meal which has to be taken before 11.00 am. They can have liquids but no solid food for the rest of the day. These two monks were tucking it away and I understood why if that was it for the day.
Blessing the food.
Brunch. Rice on its way.
Getting a full day’s food intake in the one session.
Reviewing the photos. I spoke to this monk and he was lovely. Spoke good English.
Two full monks but plenty left over for the guests.
The guests getting tucked into brunch too. This is a PhD student Mark is helping translate her thesis from Thai to English.
Marks has a bird’s nest in one of his plants in the entranceway to the house. Very good luck according to Thais.
Gaun posing after reviewing bird’s nest in the pot hanging behind her head.
And the outcome of the bird’s hard work.
Between the bird’s nest and the new spirit house I expect to report on many blessings in Mark’s life shortly.
All done with everyone fed the monks and Phor Pham got onto their taxi bus driven by the dude and headed off as did we all shortly after.
These red taxis are everywhere. You just get one to pull over and see where its going. A slow trip as they will stop to pick up and let off passengers anywhere along the way.
A job well done. Thanks Mark for sharing the experience.
If you are out this way you now have an idea of the effort that goes into those many spirit houses you will see everywhere in Thailand.
For the record Gaun won’t be having a San Phra Phum when we build. The thing is once you install one you then have to maintain it by feeding and watering the spirits on a regular basis plus all the special festival days of the year. The houses aren’t something you can just put in and forget. Thais really believe that sickness or other bad luck will happen if you don’t take care of your San Phra Phum. Gaun just can’t be bothered the lazy woman! I would but am just too busy with the blog and sleeping.
Thanks for reading.
Thank you for sharing this. I’m getting a spirit house for a friend this Christmas and she will love reading about your experience.
I am glad you enjoyed the read. Once installed your friend will have to commit to maintain the house. In the Thai tradition it is more than just a garden ornament. Having invited the spirits to move in she will need to make sure they are comfortable and fed 🙂 Great to see you both getting into the local culture. Happy Christmas. Tony
Hi. I am currently briefly in Chiang Mai and a friend has asked me to buy some of the figurines that go in the spirit houses to take back to Australia. Do you know of where to find them? Cheers
Hi Mark. I have never set one up myself so can’t give you a definite answer. Gaun tells me that they are sometimes sold in the shops that sell the temple donations you see everywhere – plastic flowers, bowls, mats and those pre-packed buckets people give to monks. Also places that sell san phra phum or the large brightly coloured pyramid structures you see for sale on the roadside that are used to put bones and ashes post cremation.
I hope that helps. Let me know how you go – others may be interested. That’s an unusual gift to take home. Good idea.
Cheers Tony
Hi Tony, thanks for replying. Yes, I did manage to track some down. My friend wanted them as they have a Thai-born son and have a Spirit House, so needed the figures to go in them.
I got them at the Warot Rd Markets in Chiang Mai. I had been in there previously and hadn’t seen them but after asking around, I was told where to look. There is one corner of the markets with a couple of stalls that sell them. I got a set of two servants with the horse and elephant plus a couple of dancers for 200 baht.
Hi Mark. Thanks for getting back. I am pleased you were able to source the figures for your friend’s son. I think that they are an excellent reminder of Thailand for anyone looking for something a little different to take home.
I did suggest to my wife Gaun we have a san phra phum in the early days but she said that she didn’t want the responsibility of looking after the spirits 🙂 You can’t just put one up and forget about it. They have to be cleaned, fed and drinks provided (preferably whisky!). She has enough problem looking after me let alone a bunch of ghosts.
Cheers. Tony