Oh! Sorry for my misunderstand. I just read from google and it said the spirit house is saan phra phoom, not saan ta yaai. So I'm back to fix my mistake. Sorry! Sorry!

Except the wrong name, the others should be correct, I think. And how can I rewrite my recent post?

Could this case be called "Lost in Translation"? http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...lies/blush.gif

We have on like this and the other more elaborate one inside our house. I understand that their purpose is different from the two found outside Thai houses, land and ancestors. . The place selling the small one says it was not a spirit house but for rice storage - our big one is actually supposed to be a spirit house. The name is different, too. Our Thai niece explained it once but we forgot. Anybody know?

http://www.lannathaicrafts.com/images/07007_.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3552/...e8853e54_o.jpg

I think this may be a slight misunderstanding-it is the the shadow of the building on the relevant land that should never fall over a phra phum spirit house.

A spirit master/astrologer should always be hired to determine exactly where a spirit house should be located, the time it should be erected-to the hour and minute- and which way it faces on new properties-also to establish the "character" of the spirit and what keeps it contented-some like gifts of little miniature wooden elephants, cars, furniture, wooden figures to represent slaves etc.

It is also widely thought that the Phra Phum should always be told of all births, marriages and deaths within a household on its land, as well as people leaving for long periods of time-eg to go to work in a city from a village, and of people coming to stay.

Thais call a small shrine in their house area as ÈÒžÃÐÀÙÁÔ (saan phra phoom, shrine of guardian angel of the land) and the angel names ¾ÃÐÀÙÁÔà¨éÒ·Õè (phra phoom chao thee, angel who is the land owner). Thais believe each area has the owner, and the owner is à·¾ (Deva, angel). So when Thai builds his house on a land, he usually builds a shrine too, for show respect to the old land owner. A shrine is built as a temple style or Thai palace style, stand on one pillar, above the floor about 1.50-2.00 metres.

Thais believe the angels will protect their house area and their family members from evil spirits, bad guys, robbers and thieves. At least they (me too http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/imag...es/biggrin.png) hope the angels will change the bad guys mind to ignore their house.

Other similar shrine is ÈÒŵÒÂÒ (saan ta yaai, shrine of ancestor spirit). the shrine is look like the angel shrine, but a shorter pillar, 1.00-1.50 metres. Thais believe their ancestor spirits are the good ghosts and they always look after their descendant even if they were dead. Some local calls this spirit as ¼Õ»Ùè¼ÕÂèÒ (phee poo phee ya, grandparents spirits ) or ¼ÕºéÒ¹¼ÕàÃ×͹ (phee baan phee ruan, spirits house).

We can see both shrines are stay together in a house area, or only a guardian angel shrine, never found an ancestor spirit shrine without an angel shrine. And because ¾ÃÐÀÙÁÔ (phra phoom, land angels) are à·¾ (Devas, angels), it is not necessary to offer them with foods. Only joss sticks, candle, some water, and flowers or garland, are enought. Not the same to spirits houses, they are ghosts, so Thais usually offer them with foods.

What are the shrines near the roadsides? Thais call them as ÈÒÅà¾Õ§µÒ (saan phiang ta - shrine that has a height equal to the eye sight level). These shrines are built for the vagrant spirits, often set up at the car accident places or victim dead places. Somewhere is popular and becomes to bigger shrine in present.

Please explain spirit houses
 

Hi, everyone. I am joining Paknam after living and working in Bangkok for more than 6 years. I am looking forward to meeting more people and learning more about living in this fascinating country. My first question: Could someone tell me more about the meaning of spirit houses? I know they should be placed on property where they are in the sunlight as much as possible, but I do not know why? Also, I see many piles of discarded spirit houses along the roadsides near trees or bridges. Is this significant? Thanks for the comments.

correct me if i am wrong, i have heard that it is considered a taboo to have your shadow covering the spirit house

Spirit Houses are for the guardian spirits of the land which we occupy with our homes and places of work. the theory is that we have to appease the guardian spirits by providing them with a place of residence more beautiful than our own. We should also provide them with daily food. There are strict rules about where and when a spirit house can be set up. Thai people are superstitious and so they just won't throw them away when they buy new ones or the old ones become worn out. so, they put them in kind of spirit graveyards in temples or other shrines alongside the road.