Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
Was sitting outside a coffee shop today when I noticed a Khmer man in his 20s sauntering along. As he approached a spirit house over the road he grabbed one of the offerings.- a fruit juice drink in a plastic cup - and strolled on with it. It was quiet and I was the only person outside the coffee shop. Wondering what the average Khmer would do if they saw this happen? Round up a rent a mob and beat him? Or would it be considered just that he was clearly in need of a drink more than the spirits? Never seen this before in over 10 years living around the country and maybe it's a reflection of changing attitudes towards superstition that he would take the drink?
- Username Taken
- Raven
- Posts: 13937
- Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 6:53 pm
- Reputation: 6010
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
Seen this numerous times. Street people / homeless people doing their morning rounds. The locals don't really care, but will chase them away sometimes.
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
after the incense has finished burning the spirits have finished eating and a simple som saabal (sp?) is spoken and then can be consumed
"i'm the one who has to die, when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way i want to"
jimi hendrix
jimi hendrix
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
Seen this several times too. Always dodgy characters. Better than leaving the fruits to rot imo
- John Bingham
- Expatriate
- Posts: 13783
- Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:26 pm
- Reputation: 8983
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
It's not something you'll see everywhere, and would generally be frowned upon, especially if the offerings are new or fresh. If your next-door neighbor tried that you'd be rightly annoyed, but with street urchins what's the point?Dog wrote: ↑Sun Apr 08, 2018 9:41 pm Was sitting outside a coffee shop today when I noticed a Khmer man in his 20s sauntering along. As he approached a spirit house over the road he grabbed one of the offerings.- a fruit juice drink in a plastic cup - and strolled on with it. It was quiet and I was the only person outside the coffee shop. Wondering what the average Khmer would do if they saw this happen? Round up a rent a mob and beat him? Or would it be considered just that he was clearly in need of a drink more than the spirits? Never seen this before in over 10 years living around the country and maybe it's a reflection of changing attitudes towards superstition that he would take the drink?
My relations here always put weird toys on the spirit house. then sometimes shot glasses of coffee and maybe some cakes or bananas. Every day when I drove through a certain area my father-in-law would stop to buy a chicken head, to go on the altar. He'd also stick a fresh beer up there every evening. For the ancestors and the Neak Ta. I have to admit running out of beer around there a few times and replacing the ghost beer with a can of water. The thing would only be hot and filled with dead ants and larva and bugs by the morning anyway.
Whet I find really strange are the weird little constructions made out of banana leaves and skewers and various bits and pieces, you see them in special spots like under an old tree or along the lines of an old brook, that might by now be a sewer. The traditions remain long after the terrain has changed.
Silence, exile, and cunning.
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
I am wondering if what you are talking about are Ting Mong. These are what appear to be scarecrows to scare away evil spirits.
From what l have read Ting Mong can be very basic at times.
From what l have read Ting Mong can be very basic at times.
- Username Taken
- Raven
- Posts: 13937
- Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 6:53 pm
- Reputation: 6010
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
The little constructions made of banana leaves and skewers are used when exorcising bad spirits out of sick (possessed) people.
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
What about if I, as a foreigner, was to buy a spirit house from the market, one of those smaller, wooden houses, and install it on the balcony. Would I need to to have a monk around to bless the installation? Would the Khmer cleaner/apartment owner find this disturbing/weird/rude if I did this? I'm not particularly spiritual but I find these houses kind of cool and in any case it would brighten up the balcony!
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
It is a little more complex. Some Spirit Houses are for the spirits of dead children. These Spirit Houses require a different way of taking care. They need toys etc and often a rattle. You must use the rattle to make sound daily as part of the ceremony.
Re: Khmer attitudes about spirit houses
Thank god my Khmer girlfriend doesn't believe in any of that gobbledygook. I would never be able to stand it. Trips to the wat? Enchanted pieces of string? Baby ghosts? Chicken heads??? GTFOH.
Plus, that incense stinks to high hell.
Plus, that incense stinks to high hell.
"The revolution did more than legally create the United States; it transformed American society... Far from remaining monarchical, hierarchy-ridden subjects on the margin of civilization, Americans had become, almost overnight, the most liberal, the most democratic, the most commercial minded, and the most modern people in the world." - Gordon S. Wood
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 0 Replies
- 661 Views
-
Last post by CEOCambodiaNews
-
- 12 Replies
- 6267 Views
-
Last post by timmydownawell
-
- 0 Replies
- 1306 Views
-
Last post by CEOCambodiaNews
-
- 0 Replies
- 743 Views
-
Last post by CEOCambodiaNews
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: barang_TK, Clutch Cargo, dirtymacca, Doc67, lurcio, Newinkow, NitNoi, Ong Tay and 632 guests