Be Careful if You Asked for a Child From a Sacred Place

I hope that the introduction post of May the Force be With You will give you a little insight that Animistic beliefs are still widely practiced in Laos.  As for our neighboring country Thailand, they also share this belief because Buddhism in Thailand is also closely tied to animist beliefs and belief in ancestral spirits. …

May the Force be with you

Paya Soke When you’re in the presence of a sacred place, I think you could feel it, I know it happened to me. I’ve been in many holy places before, but the one place that has such a strong force to me was the road to Vang Vieng and heading towards Luang Prabang Laos, and…

The Belief of Ghost In The House

I wrote this a while back, but never posted here, and it sort of related to the current topic that I'm posting at the moment.  All Photos are from my Laos Trip. The belief in ghost or spirit has been in our Lao/Thai culture for generations, especially the belief of ghost in the house. The…

A Spirit House

It is very common to see a spirit house in Laos and Thailand, whether at a temple, in front of a house or place of business.  So who lives in this spirit house, most people might think a ghost perhaps.  Personally I don’t think it’s a ghost, but must be some sort of spirit for…

The Traditions of Moving into a New House

Television's Greatest Hits - Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood The Laotians and Thais have a tradition and ritual that we perform before moving into a new house, as some younger generation no longer practice this, especially those living abroad mainly because they don’t know the tradition. Since I grew up in Laos and Thailand, I really can’t…

Dancing to The Spirits

I wrote a post on Different Types Of Prays And Rituals To The Ghost back in March 2007, when I was having a lot of problems posting my post, especially the posts on ghost story. Crazy as this may sound, I had to pray to the ghost spirits asking for permission before translating and writing…