This is where the post is in my house
Hopea wood
Thai spirit houses
Tee-Joo-Lya Chinese shrine
Hi, my name is Yim and I work in Bangkok. Today, I want to tell you about Thai spirit houses and Chinese shrines, as we have both in Thailand.
In Thailand, there are spirit houses and there are shrines. Most Thais and Thai-Chinese have these in their homes. The Thai-Chinese usually have a grounded shrine, which has a red color (and is called Tee-Joo-Lya ) and ethnic Thais have a spirit house that stands on a large post (which is called Sarn-Pra-Poom ). These shrines and houses belong to the religious beliefs of the Chinese and the Thai respectively. Ethnic Thais will usually have a spirit house but Thai-Chinese might have both a spirit house and a shrine.
In addition, in Thailand the old Thai style houses had wooden posts where spirits also resided. In the past, Thai houses were made of wood. One type of wood, Hopea (scientific name) was used and the Thai belief was that it was the residence of a female spirit (in Thai called Nang-Ta-Khian.) Nang is for 'Ms'.
For me, although my own house is a modern Thai style house there is still a big square concrete post in the middle of my house. A spirit medium (a lady who sits with crossed legs and closes her eyes to connect to a male spirit and lets him enter her body) told me that a spirit also dwells in there.
Believe it or not?
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