Last week, on my way to one of my favorite breakfast spots, I passed an elaborate [tag]ceremony[/tag] in progress – the installation of a Spirit House and an Ancestor House for a new business. And, I was honored to be invited to stay.
In Thailand, each building has small shrines that are dedicated to the nature spirits and to the “Grandparent” spirits of the people who first lived on the property. Some of the houses are made to look like miniature temples. Others look like traditional Thai teak homes. Some are whimsical and all are eye-catching and beautiful. Offerings are made at these shrines every morning and evening.
Great care is taken to place these shrines in the most auspicious location and [tag]astrology[/tag] is consulted to make sure that they are installed at an auspicious day and time. And they are put in place with a great deal of ritual.
For this installation ceremony, two large tables took over the front lawn of the building. The tables were heavy with an assortment of offerings – flowers, water, red soda pop, whisky, plates of sweets, large wooden trays with fruit piled carefully into towers, incense, candles and two pig’s heads (an especially expensive and lucky offering).
A serious looking, older man dressed in white presided over the ceremony. His role, a combination of priest, geomancer and astrologer. It is his job to select the proper location for the Spirit House and to make sure that the timing of the ceremony is accurate. He performed specific blessings and set the statues and other ornaments into position.
At one point in the midst of this lovely ceremony, there was a bit of a hitch. The geomancer attempted to place a Buddha image into the Spirit House, but the base of the statue was too wide to fit through the narrow door. The business owner disappeared and quickly returned, carrying a hammer. With a “wai” (a small bow with hands over the heart) and a prayer offered to the Buddha, she gave the base a few whacks of the hammer. It still didn’t fit. So, more prayers, more “wais” and a few more whacks with the hammer followed. Finally, the statue fit and the ceremony joyfully continued on. The Spirit House was adorned with flowers and brightly colored garlands, the candles were lit and the business owner prayerfully placed the first sticks of incense onto the altar.
I see many Spirit Houses and Ancestor Houses every day, as I walk around town. So, it was really wonderful to witness an installation ceremony. Yet again, I am moved by the way that ritual and ceremony are such an integral part of life here in Thailand. I love the way laughter and playfulness balance the seriousness. And, I continue to be intrigued by the way the practical and the spiritual are woven together so closely (remembering Buddha and the hammer!).
Living here, I am constantly reminded to bring spiritual elements into my own daily life and to do this in a meaningful, yet routine and ongoing way.
Copyright Deb Swingholm, 2008 All rights reserved.
Tags: Astrology, Ceremony, Deb Swingholm, installation ceremony, ritual, spirit houses, Thailand
