"sacred" places and spirit- or ghost houses can be found here.
A spirit house or san phra phum (Thai: ศาลพระภูมิ) is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that are found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Most houses and businesses have a spirit house placed in an auspicious spot, most often in a corner of the property. The location may be chosen after consultation with a Brahmin priest. The spirit house is normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, and is mounted on a pillar or on a dais.
The house is intended to provide a shelter for spirits which could cause problems for the people if not appeased. The shrines often include images of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at the house to propitiate the spirits. More elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose.
In addition to outdoor shrines, homes and businesses also have them indoors, similar to ancient Roman Lares Familiares.
Animism Wikipedia
An old spirit house shall never been discarded but placed together with others somewhere in a field or a wood. Although they aren’t maintained anymore it’s common that passers-by sometimes leave an offer on the spot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism
Animism (from Latin anima (soul, life) is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment, a proposition also known as hylozoism in philosophy. Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names or metaphors in mythology. Religions which emphasize animism are mostly ethnic religions or folk religions, such as the various forms of Shamanism, Shinto, or certain currents of Hinduism.
Throughout European history, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Acquinas, among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants and people.
Source: Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Spirit house: a place to pay respect to a spirit
In Thailand one finds millions of spirit houses in and around the houses, in gardens at street corners in the middle of the fields and bush, even without the "house" underneath a tree. Like one finds at the Philippines at lots of locations a statue of Maria in gardens, but not that widely as the Thai spirit houses. These spirit houses are always supplied with flowers, food and drinks.
A spirit house or san phra phum (Thai: ศาลพระภูมิ) is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that are found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. Most houses and businesses have a spirit house placed in an auspicious spot, most often in a corner of the property. The location may be chosen after consultation with a Brahmin priest. The spirit house is normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, and is mounted on a pillar or on a dais.
The house is intended to provide a shelter for spirits which could cause problems for the people if not appeased. The shrines often include images of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at the house to propitiate the spirits. More elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose.
In addition to outdoor shrines, homes and businesses also have them indoors, similar to ancient Roman Lares Familiares.
Animism Wikipedia
An old spirit house shall never been discarded but placed together with others somewhere in a field or a wood. Although they aren’t maintained anymore it’s common that passers-by sometimes leave an offer on the spot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism
Animism (from Latin anima (soul, life) is a philosophical, religious or spiritual idea that souls or spirits exist not only in humans and animals but also in plants, rocks, natural phenomena such as thunder, geographic features such as mountains or rivers, or other entities of the natural environment, a proposition also known as hylozoism in philosophy. Animism may further attribute souls to abstract concepts such as words, true names or metaphors in mythology. Religions which emphasize animism are mostly ethnic religions or folk religions, such as the various forms of Shamanism, Shinto, or certain currents of Hinduism.
Throughout European history, philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Acquinas, among others, contemplated the possibility that souls exist in animals, plants and people.
Source: Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Spirit house: a place to pay respect to a spirit
In Thailand one finds millions of spirit houses in and around the houses, in gardens at street corners in the middle of the fields and bush, even without the "house" underneath a tree. Like one finds at the Philippines at lots of locations a statue of Maria in gardens, but not that widely as the Thai spirit houses. These spirit houses are always supplied with flowers, food and drinks.
