Ghost Housing

When you visit Thailand, you can see many miniature houses that look almost like dollhouses. But they are not for kids to play. They are built for ghosts. Many Thais still believe in ghosts, which goes back to animistic beliefs that were present in Thailand long before the arrival of Buddhism or other religions.

They believe that each place has it’s local ghosts, and when humans live there, they have to build a house for the ghosts that live there too, so that they won’t trouble and interfere with family affairs. They will even make small offerings, like soft-drinks, a glass of water, flowers, sweets, snacks and cigarettes to the ghosts to keep them happy.

Twice As Big As London

The former capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya, was almost twice as big as London in the 17th century, and in fact, it was one of the most spectacular cities in the world at that time. While London had around 500,000 inhabitants, Ayutthaya reached 1,000,000. The kingdom of Ayutthaya astonished tradesmen from all over the world, and reports of early European visitors still tell the story of a city with some many temples and so much gold, it was, according to them, a city which no one would believe exists, if not seen with his own eyes.

However, in 1767 the city got almost completely destroyed, all the gold and other valuables was stolen, scriptures burned by the Burmese warriors who besieged the kingdom. Today, Ayutthaya is a small town about one hour north of Bangkok with about 54,000 people living there.

Thailand is a religiously diverse and tolerant country

About 95% of the population are practicing Theravada Buddhists. However, when you visit Thailand, you will also see a lot of Indian and Chinese religious influences. Brahmanistic, Hinduistic and Taoistic statues and shrines can be seen in many places along with Buddhist symbols and Buddha images. This is mainly due to historical reasons, because so many different people from so many different regions settled down in what today is known as Thailand.

The Kings of the current dynasty are also referred to as Rama. There were nine kings in this dynasty, and the current one is called Rama IX. Rama is the name of a reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, and this tradition goes back to the belief that the kings were in fact human reincarnations of Vishnu.

Brahmin astrologers still to this day preside over important royal ceremonies, like the royal ploughing ceremony, to determine auspicious dates for example.