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| Sacred tree with spirit house |
Many pretty trees dot a vacant plot of land next to my condo.
A developer bought the land from a bank recently and is now clearing it for sale. He has hired a gang of Esan (northeastern) labourers to prepare the land.
In recent months they have removed slum houses which made incursions on the property while it was still owned by the bank.
They are now putting up a wall along the property, and I notice have chopped down at least one tree.
Residents have erected spirit houses on the property, sprinkled amid 20 large trees.
‘They won’t dare remove the biggest trees until they have asked for the spirits’ blessing,’ one slum resident told me.
‘They will have to invite monks, and perform a proper ceremony.’
Once the ceremony is performed, the owner will be free to cut down the trees, unless residents protest.
Mr P, a security guard who works at the condo and hails from Esan, says Thais believe spirits inhabit the trees, and that ill-fate will fall on anyone who does them harm.
We counted 18 largish trees on the property. They include banyan and bodhi trees, among the most revered for Thais.
Residents have put up spirit houses among the trees, or wrapped cloth around the base of the trunks to signify their importance.
I have befriended the Esan family of three labourers hired to prepare the land for sale.
Mother, father and teenage son have been working on the site for the past couple of months, and tell me they have another few months to go before their duties here are done.
They have built tin shacks for themselves at the far end of the property, which are connected to electricity, even if they lack proper showers or washing facilities.
Occasionally they are joined by workers from outside, who dump soil, and bring in diggers to clear obstacles away.
‘Where have you been? We haven’t seen you for a few days,’ the mother asked me.
'I have been tied up with work,' I said.
They were filling cement foundations for a wall, which they will build alongside an existing one to keep out the slum.
I did not mention the fate of the trees, as I don't want to add to the family's burdens. They are already on the outer with slum residents after they attempted to erect a wall blocking access to the slum along a road which runs alongside the rear of my condo.
The residents in the picture below have erected a table to sell food at the entrance to the slum where the wall used to sit.
Young people from the slum took down the wall in the dead of night, barely hours after it went up.
Slum residents protested about the wall to the local body office, which says it will oppose any further attempts by the owner to erect barriers there.
The road is supposed to serve as an accessway for emergency vehicles in the event of a slum fire. If it is blocked, they cannot get in.
The family of labourers is returning to their home in Kalasin province for a few days next month for the Songkran festival. Otherwise, their lives as itinerant workers in Bangkok are quiet.
‘If our pay comes out, we might visit the department store for a walk, or buy food in the local market. However, we hardly ever leave the site, and know nobody here,’ the mother said.
Being generous Thais, they invited me to join them on their trip back home to Kalasin to celebrate Songkran.
I declined, as I am busy with work.
PS: A week ago I said I would try writing daily posts. Seven posts later, I need a rest. I will now go back to posting once every few days.
A developer bought the land from a bank recently and is now clearing it for sale. He has hired a gang of Esan (northeastern) labourers to prepare the land.
In recent months they have removed slum houses which made incursions on the property while it was still owned by the bank.
They are now putting up a wall along the property, and I notice have chopped down at least one tree.
Residents have erected spirit houses on the property, sprinkled amid 20 large trees.
‘They won’t dare remove the biggest trees until they have asked for the spirits’ blessing,’ one slum resident told me.
‘They will have to invite monks, and perform a proper ceremony.’
Once the ceremony is performed, the owner will be free to cut down the trees, unless residents protest.
Mr P, a security guard who works at the condo and hails from Esan, says Thais believe spirits inhabit the trees, and that ill-fate will fall on anyone who does them harm.
We counted 18 largish trees on the property. They include banyan and bodhi trees, among the most revered for Thais.
Residents have put up spirit houses among the trees, or wrapped cloth around the base of the trunks to signify their importance.
I have befriended the Esan family of three labourers hired to prepare the land for sale.
Mother, father and teenage son have been working on the site for the past couple of months, and tell me they have another few months to go before their duties here are done.
They have built tin shacks for themselves at the far end of the property, which are connected to electricity, even if they lack proper showers or washing facilities.
Occasionally they are joined by workers from outside, who dump soil, and bring in diggers to clear obstacles away.
‘Where have you been? We haven’t seen you for a few days,’ the mother asked me.
'I have been tied up with work,' I said.
They were filling cement foundations for a wall, which they will build alongside an existing one to keep out the slum.
I did not mention the fate of the trees, as I don't want to add to the family's burdens. They are already on the outer with slum residents after they attempted to erect a wall blocking access to the slum along a road which runs alongside the rear of my condo.
The residents in the picture below have erected a table to sell food at the entrance to the slum where the wall used to sit.
Slum residents protested about the wall to the local body office, which says it will oppose any further attempts by the owner to erect barriers there.
The road is supposed to serve as an accessway for emergency vehicles in the event of a slum fire. If it is blocked, they cannot get in.
The family of labourers is returning to their home in Kalasin province for a few days next month for the Songkran festival. Otherwise, their lives as itinerant workers in Bangkok are quiet.
‘If our pay comes out, we might visit the department store for a walk, or buy food in the local market. However, we hardly ever leave the site, and know nobody here,’ the mother said.
Being generous Thais, they invited me to join them on their trip back home to Kalasin to celebrate Songkran.
I declined, as I am busy with work.
PS: A week ago I said I would try writing daily posts. Seven posts later, I need a rest. I will now go back to posting once every few days.
3 comments:
ReplyDeleteBkkdreamer23 March 2011 at 08:04
Here's a slightly different version of the same story, which I sent to a friend by email:
A vacant piece of land next to my condo is home to about 18 large trees, which I fear will be chopped down as the owner readies the land
for sale.
The trees are beautiful, but I doubt anyone cares about their fate, at least in a western-style conservation sense.
Many Thais believe spirits inhabit the trees, and that anyone who does them harm will suffer. This helps ensure they stay in the meantime.
But if the developer wants to remove them, all he has to do is call in the monks to invite the spirits to leave. It seems the council has no
say, even assuming it knows about the trees.
Among them are the bodhi tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment, and the banyan tree, another revered tree for Thais.
I asked a security guard today what would happen if a bunch of tree-loving monks refused to turn up for the ceremony (for which they
are paid, of course).
'There are plenty of temples around here...the developer can always go somewhere else,' he said.
ReplyDelete
Jared Vincent26 March 2011 at 23:58
hi thanks for reading my blog. I see you've been reading a lot in my blog stats. Thank you.
ReplyDelete
Bkkdreamer27 March 2011 at 18:41
My pleasure. I hope you carry on posting regularly. If you do, you are likely to stay on the blog roll.
ReplyDelete