San Phra Phum (ศาลพระภูมิ)

26. April 2023

A visit to the village ศาลพระภูมิ — the house of the guardian spirit.

Belief in spirits runs alongside Buddhism here and is older than it. Spirits are called ผี (phi), and most of them belong to the night. They are held to keep to certain trees, to burial ground near temples, and to houses that have been left empty.

The spirit house stands at the corner of a property, placed so that the shadow of the house never falls on it. The guardian is given a place of his own, and in return he leaves the household in peace. Food, flowers, incense — and, by a custom nobody can quite explain, red Fanta.