Kampuchea Crossings » spirit house

Spirit houses in Asia

nabejero — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Spirits– can’t live with them, can’t live without appeasing them. In Asia, nature or ‘supernatural’ forces are very much a part of one’s being and not disconnected as it is in the modern west.

When people move into a new home they create a disturbance in the natural world. In a gesture of deference and to re-balance the natural surroundings, it is tradition to appease the displaced spirits. Bribes of various sorts ranging from incense, fruits, vegetables, water and rice etc are regularly placed in these houses, sort of like an eviction compensation. It isn’t that the spirits will actually eat them, and in fact some of these houses can be left in such a state as to seem that the spirits are expected to clean their little abodes. They will not. These are symbolic acts of respect towards the earth and to divine beings who live alongside us.

See the bananas and bottles of water in the first photo? On the road down to Koh Kong there are a few spirit houses placed along the sides of the road. Sometimes people will stop, leave a lagniappe and ask the spirits in that area to look over them in their travels and keep mischief and danger away. If many accidents have occurred on a specific road a spirit house will be placed there, to allow travelers to pacify the tormented spirits.

It’s interesting to note that I have never seen birds nesting in these houses, nor eating the plentiful fruits left at them. I hadn’t had a drop of clue or curiosity yet to ask my Khmer colleagues and friends why this is so. I guess it satisfies my sensibilities that it really does have to do with an otherwordly presence.
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Thailand: Scene in Bangkok

nabejero — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:59:00 +0000

People believe that spirits share the space that humans inhabit. When a house is built, a similar-looking smaller house is built and placed at a prominent location on the property, to house the spirits that were displaced by the humans moving in. This is done to pacify them or else bad luck will befall the new tenants. Many accidents plagued the building of the Erawan complex in this photo. These events stopped when this spirit house was built and dedicated.

Khao San Road, the backpacking mecca of Bangkok.

Jasmine vendor. The smell of jasmine is just heaven!

Fish vendor. The smell in the meat market is NOT heaven!

The absolute BESTEST iced tea in the world is at this particular street vendor in Bangkok! Drinks are put into small plastic bags that look like mini grocery bags, they stick some ice and a straw in there, and voila! (Edit in 2007: sadly this site has been developed with four megamalls on each corner so my cafe vendor is gone :(

Iced coffee to go!

Boat Lunge-ing 101. Boats take you up and down the canals and river for a scenic view of Bangkok–for a mere 10cents each way. They come in at a sideswipe angle at high speed. The boat never comes to a complete stop and people just lunge on or off. I have no idea how they don’t fall right in the water and get crushed.

This is at the Reclining Buddha. Keith was smitten by the wats, pagodas, and temples of Asia and we visited as many as he can get us to. These structures are actually resting places for prominent residents and monks.

Young monks were waiting with us for the boat to go down the klong (waterways).

Riverside dwellings along the Chao Praya