Thai Superstitions: Lucky Colours, Numbers and Spirit Houses

Thailand is a Buddhist country, but older beliefs about luck, spirits and good timing live comfortably alongside Buddhism. Spirit houses guard homes and businesses all over the country, nine is the lucky number, many people dress in the colour of the day, and a fortune teller, หมอดูmǎw-duu, may pick the date for a wedding or a shop opening. Plenty of Thais follow these customs half-seriously, and one saying sums up the attitude: ไม่เชื่ออย่าลบหลู่mâi chûea yàa lóp-lùu, "if you don't believe, don't mock". There's even a slang word for luck-seeking, มูเตลูmuu-dtee-luu, and someone who's into it is สายมูsǎai muu.

A colour for every day

In Thai astrology every day of the week has a guardian deity and a colour: Sunday red, Monday yellow, Tuesday pink, Wednesday green, Thursday orange, Friday light blue and Saturday purple. Thais know which day of the week they were born on, and its colour is theirs. The King was born on a Monday, which is why yellow, Monday's colour, fills the streets with flags and shirts on royal occasions. Every year astrologers publish charts of the colours to wear each day for money, love or work, together with the day's unlucky colour, the สีกาลกิณีsǐi gaa-lá-gì-nii, which many people avoid on the day of an interview or an exam. Our page on the Thai days of the week has the colours with audio.

Lucky numbers and the lottery

Nine is the luckiest number, because เก้าgâao (nine) sounds like ก้าวgâao (to step forward, to progress). People pay extra for phone numbers full of nines, and number plates with lucky combinations, ทะเบียนสวยtá-bian sǔay, are sold at official auctions for large sums. The government lottery, หวยhǔay in everyday speech, is usually drawn on the 1st and the 16th of the month, and hunting for the winning number is a national hobby: numbers come from dreams, from the number plate of a car in the news, and from the trunks of old ตะเคียนdtà-kian trees, which people rub with talcum powder until they think they can see digits.

Spirit houses

The small, ornate shrine on a pillar outside homes, shops and office towers is a ศาลพระภูมิsǎan-prá-puum, home of the guardian spirit of the land. A Brahmin priest usually chooses the spot and the date to set it up, somewhere the building's shadow won't fall on it. Next to it there's often a lower shrine for the land's "grandparent" spirits, the ศาลตายายsǎan dtaa yaai.

Every day people leave flowers, incense, rice, fruit and drinks, above all red soda, usually strawberry Fanta, called น้ำแดงnáam-daeng, "red water". Nobody is sure why it has to be red: theories range from a stand-in for the blood of old animal offerings to incense dye that turned the water red. You'll also see figurines of dancers, elephants and horses, and at roadside shrines on dangerous bends, whole herds of plaster zebras, which some say stand for the safety of a zebra crossing. Don't touch, climb on or take anything from a spirit house. Thais often give one a quick wai as they pass, and you're welcome to do the same.

Wednesdays and good timing

• No haircuts on Wednesday. Many barbers still close on Wednesdays. Museum Siam gives two reasons: Wednesday was a day of growth, when cutting hair, wood or anything else brought bad luck, and in the old days kings had their hair cut on Wednesdays, so ordinary people didn't.
• The right moment. Weddings, house moves, new cars and shop openings are timed for an auspicious date and hour, ฤกษ์ดีrôek dii, often chosen by a monk or an astrologer.

Ghosts, red ink and babies

ผีpǐi, ghosts and spirits, are part of everyday conversation: Thai horror films are a genre of their own, and late-night radio shows are full of listeners' ghost stories. A few rules many Thais grew up with:

• Don't whistle at night. It's said to call spirits.
• Don't sleep with your head towards the west, the direction in which the dead are laid out.
• Don't write a living person's name in red ink. The belief comes from Chinese tradition, where red was kept for the names of the dead on tombstones and of prisoners sentenced to death, and many Thais avoid it even on a birthday card.
• Don't praise a newborn as beautiful or cute: spirits might want to take the baby. It's one reason Thai nicknames can be so unflattering, as our page on Thai nicknames explains.

Respect, not ridicule

You don't have to believe any of it, and nobody expects a foreigner to follow the rules. Just treat spirit houses, amulets and Buddha images with respect, and don't laugh at what people do for luck. You'll learn the days of the week, and make plans with them, in Unit 10 of the free course.