[retrahdggd]

Jerome, have you heard that one or seen that one? Wow...that is

I read about it in The Bangkok Post last year.

There was a village upcountry where a number of the men-folk were dying. The villagers figured out it was some jealous female ghost trying to steal their men so they set up the string and all the men had to sleep in the same house and the women took turns guarding the men as they slept.

[indartwm]

Thai culture and superstitions are very similar to those in Sri Lanka. Both areTheravada Buddhist countries. The languages of both countries are heavily influenced by Sanskrit and Pali. Songkran is celebrated in Sri Lanka in a grand way. Both cultures have been highly influenced by Hinduism. I can list manyThai supersitions which are almost same as those in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is also a country of superstitions, smiles, hospitality, agriculture-based, rice-eating, major portion of the population living in rural villages which are engrossed in poverty, sex is not openly spoken of etc.I am born and bred in Sri Lanka and have deeply studied Thai culture and so I should know.
senaratne

[ireleda]

Yes, Pobly could,,
But if it was a catholic driving the bus, he wouldn't keep blowing the horn every time I get to sleep and waking me up..
Ya know there are a lot of them things MEGY spoke about..

[SeftyJokipl]

LOLz. Lot of bus drivers in my area are Catholic and just yesterday one of them who I know and hitched a ride with me, told me that my car horn is rather weak. If I want to survive with dignity I need a more powerful one and he has one to spare me!

[tipoketpu]

After the tsunami the tuktuk drivers told stories about ghosts. They said they picked up customers in Patong, Karon and Kata beach that wanted to go to the airport. When the tuk tuk arrived at the airport there was no passenger in the vehicle. They said it was ghosts of the people who died in the tsunami. It seemed to scare alot of the thais..

Also, one night when i came home quite drunk i went to sleep but woke up a bit later. The room was dark but as i looked into the dark a few meters beside the bed a small boy appaered on 3wheeled bike. The boy was looking at me with a strange expressions. He didnt say anything. I got so freaking scared i had to shut my eyes. I thought "you (me) fool, its dark and you are drunk, its nly in your imagination". I opened my eyes again and the small boy had biked a little bit closer and was about 2 meters away. The same expression on his face and now closer to me... that freaked me off. Fast as the lightning i sat or stood in the bed, grabbed the towel i had around my waist and swinged it at him. A few beer cans went flying cross the room making a loud sound that woke up my girlfriend. She asked me what was going on and i said "oh sorry, nothing". I was quite ashamed but still shooked up and she realized it so i was forced to tell her what really had happened. She understood and believed me. She said she would take care of it the next day. I asked her (not like a man) if she would mind changing place in the bed so i could sleep on the inside near the wall. She said ok.

The next day she told her friends (even though i begged her not to, hehe) and everyone was amazed by it. They said it was a ghost in the house that would go away if we only gave it food and something to drink. She bought food and juice (with a straw - ready to drink) put it on a table in the room.

Only at the time it happened i was scared. Later on I tried to say that it was only my imagination that had run wild because of alcohol but she still put out food for the ghost in the night. And in the morning i always looked at the plate (smiling) to see if the boy had taken a bite, which of course was untouched. Hehehe, well well.

I dont believe in ghosts but at the time it happened i remember i was really really scared. It was unbelievable.

[brorialsibers]

here's one to add on to the list.. when u drive by a temple or altar, and if u cannot 'wai', press the horn of your car to show respect.

same for frequent accident sites where people believe it's huanted by spirits. Horn to show respect Else something bad will happen to u

[kanchouska]

There was quite a big story on the Thai TV a couple of months ago. It went something like this.

In a village in Mae Hong Son a woman was booted out of her village by the locals and supported by the Village Headman as it was deciphered that she was possessed by the dreaded 'Phi Bop' (Thai-style ghost).

The family went on national TV on a popular afternoon Chat Show on ITV (I saw it) and professed their innocence claiming the village headman had completly made the story up as he had a personal vendeta against the family. The 2 lawyers interviewed the headman live on TV and torn him apart for believing in such junk. Onlistening more to the family's story on TV it was quite obvious that there was more to the story than possession.

Finally, the woman was rightfully allowed back into the village and yes it was gathered that the village headman had just made the story up!

This was a quote i remember by one of the Chat Show Hosts after chatting to the village headman on the phone live on TV!

"I don't think it is the villager possessed by a 'Phi Bop' i reckon it is the village headman himself"

[duexjepevef]

My wife's favourite was 'do not dream on clouds, they will carry your dreams away!'
Oh how I missed those long summer days laying in the meadow................... just dreaming!

Her family decided she had been posessed by a spirit on her last visit home, her behaviour was eratic and quite out of character, turned out she was suffering from previously undiagnosed brain tumours!

I, it seems, am now suffering from the attentions of the same spirit,simply because I have been single (lonely) for so long, (the problem the spirit apparently had) when I had challenged him to leave my wife alone.

Truth is I am quite happy being a free spirit!

Still very careful about what other people beleive in though, never do know for sure what is out there!

[SeftyJokipl]

'Superstition is a way to connect and acknowledge the unknown!'

[timmybrown]

What you mentioned are "Fengshui". Originally from China but also widely believe in Thailand and many part of Asia. Even the Western are catching up on these Fengshui belief.

I want to add it is not purely "supersitious". Some of the advise are Scienticfic and can be benificial.

For example, "Bad luck to buy a house on the end of a "T" street. " This is quite true since the chances of a car running straight into the house at the end of a "T" street as compared to house along the street should be higher.

[Arkadiyas]

Jerome, have you heard that one or seen that one? Wow...that is

[Immampdah]

How about the one regarding a new born baby, you have to admire the baby as 'so ugly'(while you meant they are cute). They said that if you say the baby is so cute or beautiful, it will attract 'bad spirit' attention and the 'bad spirit' will be fond of the baby and take baby away.

Another one is for twin babies where there is only short period apart between their times of birth, the one that born first called the younger (¹éͧ) and the one born after is the older (¾Õè), in contrary to reality. I can't remember why, something about confusing the bad spirit because otherwise it will take one of the twin away, I'm not sure.

[KukkoDrukko]

Coming in late:

Clearly some feng-shui things are good sense and lead to a harmonious house. Like the door ideas... Western architects might well come up with a similar design by some other process...

You dont need to believe the reasoning, like some Maori superstitions here, to make use of them. If some land is "bad" its often because of experience, and it turns out to be damp or something when you look closely.

Old, elevated, thai houses you could consider the "basement" to be the ground, right?

In Chinese 4 sounds like death and 8 like money. Sei and baat in Cantonese, so 8 sounds lucky in Thai too

[Arkadiyas]

Jerome:I read about it in The Bangkok Post last year.

There was a village upcountry where a number of the men-folk were dying. The villagers figured out it was some jealous female ghost trying to steal their men so they set up the string and all the men had to sleep in the same house and the women took turns guarding the men as they slept. And did it work??

[retrahdggd]

And did it work??

I don't know. I don't believe in such junk.

The real story was probably the village wives suspected their husbands were out butterflying and wanted to make sure they stayed home at night.

[Vobomei]

I remember years ago, when we were shopping for a new car, the color of the car was apparently a critical decision, because some colors were decidedly unlucky. I can't recall the details, but I remember gold (and I think red) was off limits for my Thai wife--and her neice confirmed that "fact". I think there were certain "good" colors, but don't remember what they were.

Thankfully, she has now abandoned such superstitions.

I understand that in Korea (and probably China too?), the number 4 is considered unlucky (similar to 13 in the west).

Crazy!

DogoDon

[Andoror]

I agree with that. I have a book on Thai superstitions and many of them are actually common sense. Here is a link for some of the blogs I have written about Thai superstitions:

http://www.thai-blogs.com/index.php?blog=5&cat=85

[esconsise]

One person's superstition is another's religion. I could just as easily poke fun at Catholics and Pentacostals. People all over the world believe some pretty wild stuff.

[WebDocMan]

How about this....

No starfruit is allowed in a buddhist home.

The rationale is that it resembles like the female organ haha

[SallythePearl]

I can think of only one off the top of my head right now and that is don't bring purple flowers to visit the sick as the color purple is a sign of death.

One question for you though, wahfreak. Thai houses don't have basements so how can this one come about (bad luck buying a house with the door leading directly to the basement)?

I just thought of one concerning houses:
Don't build a house with the front door and the back door lined up or you will not be able to keep any money in the house. Your money will come through the front door and go right out the back door.

There are many more. Anyone else can think of some, please add.