Main content

An estate agent for spirits

How the spirit house tradition has been passed down through generations in Bangkok.

In Thailand, intricately designed homes for protective spirits are ubiquitous – and perhaps nowhere are these houses as noticeable as in the capital Bangkok, where they sit alongside a rapidly modernising city. Journalist Teirra Kamolvattanavith explores how the spirit house tradition has been passed down through generations, how it has endured, and how people interpret the tradition differently.

Teirra sets out on a tour of the spirit houses of Bangkok, meeting the believers, spiritual consultants, sellers and manufacturers, to uncover the web of spirituality, the blend of Hinduism and animism (the belief that everything, from objects to places, has a spiritual essence) that underpins this belief in spirits and the existence of spirit houses.

Presenter: Teirra Kamolvattanavith
Producer: Sasha Edye-Lindner

(Photo: A spirit house on the beach front in south Thailand. Credit: Raimund Franken/ullstein bild/Getty Images)

A Novel production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service

Available now

27 minutes

Last on

Mon 7 Mar 2022 00:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 4 Mar 2022 03:32GMT
  • Fri 4 Mar 2022 13:32GMT
  • Sat 5 Mar 2022 16:32GMT
  • Sun 6 Mar 2022 09:32GMT
  • Sun 6 Mar 2022 10:32GMT
  • Mon 7 Mar 2022 00:32GMT

Podcast