A day at the temple
May 21, 2008 | Filed Under Chiang Mai, Thai life, Thailand | 1 Comment
One of the days in Chiang Mai we went just outside the city and drove up toward a Buddist temple that was built in the mountains. Buddhism is the primary religion in Thailand, at 95% of the population of 65+ million people. Thats a lot of people! We walked around this rather large temple, then again most of their temples are rather large in the area that it occupy.
We took the time to observe and ask questions. We noticed the buildings did not lack any detail as every part of them were ornate. With a mixture of reds, golds, and green; these buildings had many designs hard to ignore.
Here is a prominent symbol of the Wheel of Karma, or Dharma wheel. This is a symbol that was actually painted on the ceiling in one of the outside hallways.
All around the temple were the rows of rather large bells. All set up on gold pillars, balanced on a single rod there were usually 3 to 4 in between each pillar. While there, people would walk along, from one end to another, and ring each bell. I believe, please correct me if I am wrong, they believe this will bring them good fortune.
We saw this girl as we were leaving. She and a group of young girls were dancing a traditional dance in Thailand
Spirit Homes Revisited
May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Chiang Mai, Thai life, Thailand | Leave a Comment
Friends, it just occurred to me that we a lot more to share with you from Thailand. So I will try my best to show you as much as I can and as often, instead of little at a time. So sit back and enjoy!
As you might remember from a previous post, I had mentioned the presence of spirit homes that were on almost every piece of private property. These properties were homes, businesses and even government facilities. In a country that is 95% Buddhist, the Thai people still hang on to superstitions and fears of what happens if they do not appease there personal spirit. These houses are placed somewhere on the property so that the Thai’s would give food, and drink offering, even burning incense everyday to the property’s spirit. If you look at them closely, you will see little figurines of people, and animals of varying sizes. There are spirit homes in many different shapes and sizes and colors. These pictures are just a quick example of the various styles colors and offerings that we saw on this trip.
Here is an example of the offering they would leave. It was pretty cool though to see a bottle of Coke out. I also thought it was kind of interesting to see a little ladder right at the front of this one.
The one below was taken out in front of the Thai Airway offices in Chiang Mai. Interestingly, the spirit home look very similar to these corporate offices.
The one below was taken outside of a tailor shop just minutes away from where we were staying in Chiang Mai. What I like about it is that they probably did not have money to buy it so you can really see that they wanted to please the spirit buy constructing their own.
