‘Hey Ernie, what have you been up to?’
‘You know life mate, busy with my two 3 year olds. They never stop!’
‘You’ve got your hands full for sure!’
‘Yes, but having a few days off next week. My son and my daughter are marrying each other.’
I looked at him quizzically, trying desperately to make sense of what he was saying.
‘Yes, it’s Thai superstition, if you have twins who are born both boy and girl they are thought to have been lovers in a previous life. It is said if they don’t get married in their first years of the current life, that something bad will happen to them and they won’t live past 8 years old.’
‘Wow.’
‘But my wife said, ‘but no sex, just marriage.’’
‘Thank god for that!’
‘Yes, can you just imagine what my mother said!’
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| Offerings to the spirits… |
His mother, a proper English lady, with white cropped curls, precisely made face and pressed dresses sat at the bar watching Ernie night after night when she visited. She preferred that over spending more time with her daughter in law.
Laughing loudly, ‘Yes, I imagine it would have taken her some time to come to terms with that!’
‘Indeed. She can’t come out for it, so I said I’d film it for her.’
‘Oh great, I’d be really curious to see what happens in the ceremony.’
‘Apparently it goes on for a few hours, but I can’t imagine my two standing in the one spot for very long.’
‘For sure, two active 3 year olds! So how do you feel about it?’
‘Well after my wife emphasised no sex, and I heard about some of the stories my wife told me about when ceremonies have not been done and bad things have happened to kids, I thought well its better to be on the safe side. I want them to grow up safe and happy.’
‘Nice.’
‘And can they marry whomever they want when they grow up?’
Nodding, ‘Yes for sure.’ Smiling, ‘It will be like little muppets together, marrying each other!’
About a week later I saw him again. He showed me the footage of his two children in the ceremony. The boy and girl wore the same sparkling sapphire tops, the cutest little Thai pants and proud red lipstick. The only real difference between them was that his girl wore just slightly longer hair and a tiny red clip to the side of her head.The video showed the two children go up to the line of Buddhist monks. Each child had a small string tied around their wrist by the monk who said some words and smiled at their overt vibrancy. The 3 year olds ran back and forth from the monks into their mother’s arms, smiling and giggling.
And that was it.
No other fan fare ensued. Except for the child sized drum kits they were given by some relatives. They children hugged each other with glee. The next photos were drum kits and concentrated but delighted faces.
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| Spirit houses |
As one of my Thai friends told me: ‘Being Thai is complicated. Not like farang. My daughter she sick when she born, we go to temple and monk said when she 15 she must shave her hair and come and stay at the temple for one week.’
I did a little research on some other Thai superstitions, and there are plenty of interesting ones:
1. Do not cut your hair on Wednesdays (or give birth on Wednesday), it is very bad luck.
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| One of the oldest & cutest spirit houses I’ve seen! |
2. Make sure you leave food and water in your spirit houses for the spirits. Spirits live in their own little houses outside. That stops them from bothering you inside your home.
3. If you hear a Tokay Gecko (‘Tuk-kae’ which has such adistinctive loud call, like the inbreath of a plastic toy frog in a bath, too cute to be frightening) as you are leaving your house, DON’T go out! Something bad will happen to you, so stay home! 🙂
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| Tokay Gecko |
4. If you dream of a snake, you will soon meet your soulmate!
And for my Aussie friends: if a toad enters your home it will bring good luck! So welcome those toads guys! 🙂
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| Thai women collecting cockle to eat |
[…] getting to know Thai superstitions that aren’t readily documented – I wrote about this in a previous post – you can’t get these rich cultural insights off […]