Spirit Houses

You experience different things when you decide to go to a foreign land other than what you're used to. You see different things, some unusual to you but for the locals is apart of their life, their heritage. Well this isn't really new to me but new to other people not use to our SE Asian cultures.

What is it you ask? Well it's the spirit houses that you see literally at every house, everywhere. What are these you ask? Well these are mini temple-like houses set outside of your house to house the spirit of your relatives. These spirit houses can be any color but most common are red, white and gold ones (not that any other colors can't be used as well). What are you suppose to do with them? You put offerings such as rice, fruits or small drinks for your relatives and "wai" them.

These spirit houses are suppose to be sacred and not disturbed. I've seen some foreigners posing in front of these spirit houses and making it seem like it's a historic monument or something. Hello people...these are some people's relatives' spirits in them. Don't put your arms around them, smile and act like it's a celebrity.

While I was in Laos visiting Vang Vieng I seen this happen. This German dude was with a couple of people and they stopped by this family's house on the side of the road (which was near the local market) to take goofy pictures next to and around the family's spirit house which was near the front of the house. Well I also stopped by the local market on the way to kayak and seen this...I felt I had to step up and let these guys know that their actions wasn't something to take pictures of and that they should respect the family's spirit house and not mock it nor take disrespectful pictures amongst it. I also asked them how they would feel if I took goofy pictures on their family's grave site? I don't think they would like it much if I were to do that. They didn't know what the spirit house was for and now they do.

Lets just hope they share the knowledge.