There are so many aspects to this story, I hope I can accurately describe my Wednesday afternoon.
Last Tuesday at the office, all of the staff took a long lunch to buy supplies for a big ceremony taking place on Wednesday morning. Multiple people confirmed that I would attend. I couldn't understand what the ceremony was for, but that's normal. There are all sorts of ceremonies that happen at least a couple of times a month for a variety of reasons. Plus living in Thailand for well over a year now has taught me to just go with the flow and just figure it out along the way.
I showed up on Wednesday morning and went directly to the conference room on the second floor. Everything had been cleared out and the floor was entirely covered in mats. There were 9 monks sitting up in the front of the room. Totally normal so far. I sat on the floor along with the office staff and all of the important village leaders, dressed in their best Thai suits. Around 11am we chanted with the monks for about 30 minutes and then the monks feasted and so did we. It was a standard Isaan meal, which includes no silverware, instead sticky rice (which you roll into balls and use as a scooper and a dabber with the rest of the food), fermented fish paste, and bowls of stews with random meat parts. As you can imagine, not my favorite. People always watch what I eat at these types of functions, and I have gotten quite good at making it look like I'm eating and enjoying, when in fact my insides are revolting.
After lunch we all filed outside behind the office in the woods. We spread out some straw mats on the ground around a newly built spirit house (see the photo). We also placed fresh fruit and drinks at the alter. These are quite common around Thailand - I actually have a spirit house outside of my house. Anyway, one of the men dug 4 holes around the house and then we circled the alter and dropped money into one of the holes. Then we all sat back down in the heat and waited until exactly 1pm. Everyone was talking about how we must wait until 1pm. By this point I was quickly losing patience with every drop of sweat that ran down my body. Finally, it struck 1pm and we did a few chants. We then lined up to bow and pay respects to the spirit house. In my head, I was excited because I thought the show was finally over, but it was apparently just beginning. We sat back down and one of the village leaders prayed in front of the house and then turned around to face us and acted as those he was possessed or in some kind of trance. He mumbled a lot and pointed wildly in different directions. It was so bizarre I didn't even know what to think. I mean there we were... 30 adults sitting outside in the heat on a Wednesday afternoon in the woods behind the office listening to a man in a trance.
Eventually the trance man came back to his normal self and we all walked back into the office and went back to work like it was a normal day. I was obviously confused and needed some more information so I asked the Balat (office manager) what the ceremony was for. Turns out a ghost had been sleeping in the office so they built him a new house outside, which is more suitable and appropriate for a ghost. I asked if the ghost was friendly, and apparently the ghost was friendly, but the village leaders talked with the monks and decided they should give him a better place to live. I have to laugh at the fact that an entire work day was devoted to giving a ghost a new home.
When I returned home later that day, Grandma Next Door asked me if I had gone to the ghost ceremony, like it was a perfectly normal question and a perfectly normal way to spend my Wednesday. Yes, Grandma, I did attend the ghost ceremony...
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