People really seem to have an obsession with lucky numbers in Thailand. Whether its the State run Thai lottery or a religious ceremony such as a wedding or funeral, numbers always play an important part. In the West this seems less important although I guess a few folk probably avoided travelling last Friday since it was the 13th November!
Lucky numbers can turn up in all sorts of place in Thailand, its not unheard of for ghosts and spirits to provide them including winning lottery predictions. Thai temples, where you seem to get a fair mix of religion and superstition, also get in on the act as you can see in today's photograph. Can you see the red bamboo container full of wooden sticks in the right foreground? Now look behind it on the board, see the white sheets? The picture is taken in a temple in Samut Sakhon,Thailand.
Well the red pot contains sticks with numbers on and the white sheets are numbered to correspond with the numbers on the sticks. Participants will shake the container and eject one stick, easier said than done I might add! After looking at the number they then collect the relevant numbered sheet and read their fortune. Usually they also make a small donations in a handily placed box too.
Now I have had a go at this and as I indicated above its quite an art to get one stick to come out, needless to say MTF is a dab hand, however I have also noticed that if she doesn't like what is written on the paper, she has another go. Definitely cheating in my book, but then again I am not Thai or a Buddhist. I even remember reading somewhere that there is a temple in Thailand that has a roulette wheel you could spin to determine your lucky number.
Now here in the MTF household we have had a brief encounter with good luck in the Thai lottery predictions thanks to our Tokay gecko. However I have stopped giving lottery predictions based on my reptilian friends calls since now whenever he calls its always 9 times.
What you didn't know 9 was a very lucky and auspicious number in Thailand?
I reckon the Tokay does!
Chock Dee Krap!
If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my RSS feed
2 comments:
I not sure if I'm meant to laugh at this one but the bit about MTF having another go because she didn't like the original gave me a chuckle.
I have seen these white sheets on the boards before but didn't think to ask what they meant, I really must get into the habit of doing such things.
Every country has its lucky or unlucky numbers but the Thai's do tend to believe in them more than most. The lottery numbers are thought about weeks not days before the draw and well, that says it all.
Perhaps the gecko is signalling 999 for help.
BTW you have disappeared from my Friends Connect box, have you been tweaking again.
Martyn feel free to laugh I certainly do whenever she plays the lucky numbers game!
You may be right about the Tokay Gecko since I have noticed that he has a few young bulls challenging him for the number one slot!
I haven't done anything to the FC on your blog-I am now convinced Google is trying to tell me something!! I shall reinstate-but I still get your blog via followers so I really don't understand it.
Post a Comment