From spirit houses to temple dates: navigating thai traditions
Yesterday my Italian friend asked me: «So, what do you think about the Thais?" Nothing! I’ve stopped analyzing them and accepted them the way they are. I think it’s impossible for a western person to «understand» them from our logical western point of view. They are interesting. Living with them in the same country is definitely not a boring thing! So here, I wrote down several Thai "oddities" that came to my mind:
They are extremely attached to their families. Children plan their lives always taking in account their parents’; all vacations are spent almost exclusively in a large family circle; before the important life events, children (no matter what age) kneel in front of their parents and tilt their heads to the floor asking them for blessings.
Unshakable love for meat. In Thai Buddhism, even monks are meat-eaters. Meat is consumed at almost every meal, and absolutely all parts of an animal are used.
It is okay to go on a date to the temple. Once in class, I asked the students to name ideas for a romantic date. One of the ideas was to go to the temple. In Thailand, having dates at the temple is common. (After seeing several temples that look like Gardens of Eden, I myself wanted such a date!)
Faith in spirits. Buddhism in Thailand is mixed with animism - belief in spirits. Near every house there is a house for spirits to which people make offerings. There are a lot of stories about them in Thailand. Recently, my Thai friend told me that in the middle of the night he had to knock on the wall to calm down the mice rustling in it. In the morning, the teacher who lives in the apartment next door told him that at night the spirits prevented her from meditating.
Whether a man joins the army or not is decided by chance. The young men are given two cards of different colors. If they pick a red one, they go to the army, if a black one - they can relax. The Thai army, as elsewhere, is not the sweetest place. It cultivates such pillars of Thai society as obedience, punishment and submission to a rigid hierarchy.
Lottery. They buy them almost every day!
Laugh too often. It seems to me that this is one of the ways of hiding your true emotions. One teacher giggled as she described how her husband had an accident and his leg was shattered. I asked, what's so funny? "Well, it was a long time ago, you can already laugh."
The last point, is probably widely known. Twice a day: at 8 am and 6 pm the whole country freezes like in a game. Why? The national anthem is played from the speakers, so everyone has to stop and listen.
Sounds odd or not really? 😉
