Superstitions - true or falso

[Guest bidreamer]

I would like to ask about strange thai superstitions you have encountered.

The question came up, as my bf who is planning to extend his hair salon (and of course asks some help with it ) suddenly claims that it is bad luck to start building anything after what he calls the 'Big Buddha Day'in August, until October or so. Has anybody heard of such a superstition? Or is it another of those 'you can tell the farang anything, he will believe' stories?

Another one was a bit funny. One day we were driving in the mountains and an elephant crossed the road. I exclaim, 'Look, elephant!' He says nothing.... I: 'Do you see? '. He says nothing. 'Why are you not talking to me?' Nothing... Later he said it brings bad luck to say anything when you spot a wild elephant...

[Guest Chicago]

"I would like to ask about strange thai superstitions you have encountered"

 

The Spirit World ............... however, it is not a superstition, it is reality and is very powerful.  Never question the belief of this reality.

[vinapu]

I'm superstitious free but had few situations in life which can't be easily explained so I'm not dismissing them , still I have no problem of getting of bed with left leg first on Friday the 13th

[traveller123]

You have to go with him on this.

If he doesn't follow his and his family's beliefs because of you and something goes wrong it will be your fault.

 

I also had exactly the same thing on the start date for our house (also known as the first post ceremony). We had to wait until the right day, like you it was in October.

 

Remember it is a completely different culture and you will never and I mean never understand it, but if you accept that and go with it, your partner and by extension you will be a happier man.

[abidismaili]

but if you accept that and go with it, your partner and by extension you will be a happier man.

 

In our own countries many are far less accepting of people with different values who live among them. Left wing people are a typical example. When they are in an exotic culture you see them respectfully visit temple buildings, talk with respect about that culture's religion, but in their own country they would never treat a church with that same respect, or talk with respect about Christians (who are seen as backward by them, with stupid values; who are mocked)

 

I am not religious, but I do notice the difference in treatment which our still remaining Christians receive from the left wing elite, compared to how that elite treats Muslims, or in foreign countries treats the holy places of other cultures.

[firecat69]

I am certainly not religious but was raised as a Catholic .   First you see one of the main religions in the West fostering abuse of small boys.  Then there are the preachers from the south with their Gargantuan churches raising money so they can fly all over the world in private jets and do everything the Bible says not to do.  Some of those same big Southern churches fostering racism.

 

Religion has no one to blame for their drop in status then their own sins.  That and the fact if you hooked up the population to a lie detector and asked a simple question-"Do you believe in God"   What do you the results would be?

[abidismaili]

The mocking of Christians in the West is going on since the 1960s. Has nothing to do with the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

 

I notice that immense hypocracy how many Westerners (mostly of left wing persuasion) talk with respect about Muslims or exotic religions, but lack that respect for the religion of their own culture. I call that hypocracy.

 

Most ordinary Christians in our mids are descent people who are mocked and looked down upon by their fellow citizens. The same citizens who in Thailand have the upmost respect for their local form of Buddhism with a spirit world and reincarnation. No mocking at all. Only respect.

 

Yes for people like you and me it is hard to believe how anyone can be very religious or be very certain there is a God. Agnosticism seems to me the only rationally acceptable view you can have when it comes to the question if there is something which generally is called a 'God'.  I think the majority of humans is spirtual, is religious. I think a lie detector test would show that many believe in 'something'.

[vinapu]

Very interesting points from both of you above.

 

As for lie detector I can only say until one is actually hooked to one  it may be very risky to guess what answer will be to ANY question.

 

There are  loud homophobes who not only had gay intimacy experience but actually liked it and there are gays who are firmly against gay marriage. They may be priests who don't believe in God but also proclaimed atheists who do.

 

There's a lot of hypocrisy   and I would not single out leftists for it but certainly abdismaili has a point.

 

Lots of rightists , family values defenders have mistresses  of both genders aside. And preachers of transparency and honesty with palms waiting to be greased at every turn.

[Guest bidreamer]

Traveller123, thanks for your reply! I am happy to wait whatever is the right time, knowing that there actually is such a superstition. Thing is, sometimes the thai guys just make up these things because don't want to go into the true reasons (never minding that it so often eventually backfires) Of course, we do it also, but maybe not so smoothly and naturally.

[KhorTose]

The mocking of Christians in the West is going on since the 1960s. Has nothing to do with the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

 

I notice that immense hypocracy how many Westerners (mostly of left wing persuasion) talk with respect about Muslims or exotic religions, but lack that respect for the religion of their own culture. I call that hypocracy.

 

I am in complete disagreement with your premise that most "left wing" Westerners mock Christianity but respect Muslims and Buddhist temples (Strange you left out Jewish and Hindu temples).

1.  The vast majority of these other religions are not in the West where you are free to criticize.

2.  Many countries that are not Christian have laws against saying anything bad about their religions in their clountries.

3.  The normal human response when entering a place of worship, where you do not know the rules, is caution and not arrogance.

4.  Any institution is made greater by criticism and in no way should constructive criticism be construed as mocking.

5.  Many of the Christian Protestants and Catholics Churches have fully entered into politics, thus making them fair game for criticism.  Ditto for Jewish Temples in the West, especially concerning Israel. 

6.  The disdain most people feel about Christianity has nothing to do with the distaste for the Christian  religion, but  actual actions of the religious institutions involved. Nice of you to dismiss the pedophilia of the Catholics, and the money machine of the Protestants, or the hypocrisy of a faith that at one time said slavery was okay, homosexuals should be killed, and women should obey their husbands in all things.

      I will condemn these actions with all my voice, and will continue to do so., and in no way accept your charge that I am mocking Christianity.  If anything I am making Christianity more relevant to the vast knowledge we have gained about human behavior, and psychology. 

     On a personal note, I can tell English is not your first language and I believe you, or your minisiter, have  been listening to a very right wing new channel where the big issue is giving Christians more rights then other Americans, by granting a public business the right to discriminate against homosexuals. The right wing says they need this law so Christian businesses will not have to serve Homosexuals as serving them violates their religious beliefs..    It is a falsehood--okay a lie--to keep homosexuals as second class citizens without equal rights.  If you can follow logic you will see it would first apply to homosexuals, then maybe Muslims, Jews, agnostics, and why not blacks--children of Ham, and Spanish people because they are mostly Catholics and Protestantism is the only true religion.  We would soon become a nation of public bigots with neighbor pitted against neighbor. The West is  NOT a tribal society, but take great pride in the fact that we are a society that is a mixture of many cultures, and religions  Most Westerners  welcome diversity and the challenges and change it brings to our society, while some people are terrified of change and will always be, the bottom line is there can be no progress without change.  Most Westerners are allowed to believe in what ever they want to believe--religion or superstition--but because we are a  secular society with guaranteed civil rights, we are also free to criticize what we see as wrong--even in religion.  Such criticism is not mockery, but part of a ongoing dialogue that the West is free to engage in.  This may no be the case in places like Africa, where homosexuals can be killed by the "good" Christians, but not in the West---THANK GOD.

[Vessey]

More prevalent now amongst the older generations now, but England, for example, is still rife with minor superstitions that mirror that of the wild elephants in Thailand.

 

Everything from 'Friday 13th' being unlucky, even the number 13 being unlucky (I am even writing this in the UK on the 13th LOL), to placing shoes on a table, or opening an umbrella indoors, there are hundreds of such minor superstitions, some regional, some local and some personal. 

 

Nothing 3rd world about it, we are all at it. LOL

[Londoner]

A few years ago, my boyfriend (with support) built a house on land next to his parents' home. I was staggered by the number of rituals that were followed before he moved in. He's a devout Buddhist and so I wasn't surprised by a dozen monks being present at the dedication (I have photos of the occasion). What surprised me were the superstitions (which I regard as quite separate to Buddhism) related to the land surrounding the house, particularly the boundaries and  the trees which were festooned with ribbons. 

 

By the way, a few years ago the evening performances at Dreamboys in Pattaya began with a ceremonial banging on the door with a huge wooden phallus..superstitions relating to first customers at commercial sites are common. There's some interesting stuff about this in "Very Thai" by Phiip Cornwel- Smith (River Books), an invaluable guide to Thai culture.

[Alexx]

Londoner, if my memory doesn't play tricks with me, the nutcase who is the head of your boyfriend's "Buddhist" sect is actively promoting superstitions, at least those with the potential to make him rich(er). So, no surprises there.

[baobao]

A few superstitions I've encountered in Thailand that come to mind:

 

1) stepping on the threshold in a doorway... always step over it

2) going to bed to sleep with wet hair is bad luck

3) joking about dying in a risky situation (story here) 

4) geckos in your home are good luck

5) no haircuts on Wednesdays

 

It's seemed to me over the years that superstitions can be cultural, regional, village specific... all the way down to within a family. 

[vinapu]

A few superstitions I've encountered in Thailand that come to mind:

 

1) stepping on the threshold in a doorway... always step over it

 

that one you can find in Mongolia as well

[Guest FASAJIP]

 Superstitions are everywhere. Recently government buildings have been purified by monks, because of infected by spirits and employees did not want to work in... I am living in Isan, and every day I see something like that in town, in the village or at home. Spirits can stay in your TV, in your car, in the garden etc... This is part of thaï people and I think for a long time. No problem for Me....

[Guest 2guys]

A few superstitions I've encountered in Thailand that come to mind:

 

1) stepping on the threshold in a doorway... always step over it

2) going to bed to sleep with wet hair is bad luck

3) joking about dying in a risky situation (story here)

4) geckos in your home are good luck

5) no haircuts on Wednesdays

 

It's seemed to me over the years that superstitions can be cultural, regional, village specific... all the way down to within a family.

Some of these you find in Chinese culture also, I know them from my bf.

[Guest abang1961]

Excuse me,

The 7th month of the Lunar Calendar is devoted to wandering spirits.

Here in Singapore and Malaysia and in some Chinese communities worldwide, it is a month's long event.

Think of it as an extended Memorial Day Service - which already happened in the first weekend of April.

 

Here in Singapore, it is a BIG thing with burning of paper figures, incense and other stuff for a month.  

Westerners used to have mistaken it to be my country's folks patriotism as we celebrate our National Day in the same period.  

 

Things I've been taught since young,,,

Interesting read for some..

https://www.facebook.com/notes/andy-%E0%AE%87-lullaby/30-things-you-should-not-do-during-hungry-ghost-festival/846550542023103/

[vinapu]

 

Interesting read for some..

https://www.facebook.com/notes/andy-%E0%AE%87-lullaby/30-things-you-should-not-do-during-hungry-ghost-festival/846550542023103/

certainly advice  of not waiting for a bus at night after operating hours is very handy advice , ghosts or not 

[anddy]

A few superstitions I've encountered in Thailand that come to mind:

 

3) joking about dying in a risky situation (story here) 

5) no haircuts on Wednesdays

 

 

 

interesting story linked in number 3), did't know that and I'm kinda surprised as Thais joke about dying lightheartedly all the time. Did you ask your companion Voy later about some explanation (sometimes there are, sometimes not, of course)?

 

As for 5), apparently in the old days of Ayutthaya Wednesday was reserved for the king's haircuts and doing likewise by commoners was an offense punishable by death, so that superstition has a very real and understandable root (IF that historical explanation is in fact true, which I can't vouch for obviously, but could well be as Ayutthaya was a rather harsh regime)

[traveller123]

Another superstition that is common, at least in my part of Isaan, is hanging a red shirt at the entrance to the house.

 

I was told it stops ghosts coming into the house and taking a member of the family

[Guest ryanasia]

Building something new during Buddhist lent is considered bad luck. At least it was when I was living in Laos so I am guessing Thailand is the same. How they get around this is if you want to build something you should throw up at least one pillar. That way you can say that it was started before Buddhist lent begins. My friend was building a house in Laos and he moved into well ahead of it being finished because his Thai GF insisted if they didn't move in that day they would have to wait until after lent was over threes months later. 

 

This made trying to build a resort somewhat crazy. There is lent during which you shouldn't build then you have the rainy months, then you have rice harvest when you can't find workers, after that high season comes and it isn't ideal to do construction when you have guests and also are too busy. So there is literally like a 15 minute window for productivity every year. I began to understand why everything in Laos takes so damn long. 

[vinapu]

Another superstition that is common, at least in my part of Isaan, is hanging a red shirt at the entrance to the house.

 

 

to fend off Good General perhaps

[vinapu]

 

As for 5), apparently in the old days of Ayutthaya Wednesday was reserved for the king's haircuts and doing likewise by commoners was an offense ... (IF that historical explanation is in fact true, which I can't vouch for obviously,.....

some older members may still recall

[baobao]

interesting story linked in number 3), did't know that and I'm kinda surprised as Thais joke about dying lightheartedly all the time. Did you ask your companion Voy later about some explanation (sometimes there are, sometimes not, of course)?

We didn't speak about that again, and (unfortunately) I lost track of him some 15 years ago. I, too, have heard a few Thai joke about death since, but not when it's been an actual possibility like it was coming down that mountain. Almost no rationale behind most superstitions, I suppose.