Bangkok is a city of ten million residents and large areas of huge modern buildings, but it is also a city that offers thousands of much smaller buildings, houses for the spirits it is hoped will bless the homes and buildings they stand next to.
Walking through various areas of the city earlier this year, I started to collect photos of these 'spirit houses,' and to notice their similarities and often great differences. They're not limited to any particular parts of the city; small homes along the city's canals have them, and so do huge office towers.
The spirit houses are, essentially, shrines to the guardian spirits who inhabit the building's location. The houses and the offerings that are left there for the spirits are, depending on who you ask, apologies for using the space or requests for protection. Usually the spirits are called on for permission before the spirit house and then the building are constructed.
The insides often contain figures, including groups of servants, dancers or sacred animals (elephants seem especially popular) or in some cases figures of Hindu gods. Outside the house, offerings include an array of things the spirits might use, and especially offerings of food and drink.
Thailand is not the only place in Southeast Asia where they can be found, although there are differences in them from place to place. Even though most people in Thailand are at least nominally Buddhists, the spirit houses are said too have connections to early forms of Hinduism.
I found myself thinking of parallels in Western cultures, of the many buildings decorated with crosses across Europe, and votive statues on buildings, such as the images of the Virgin Mary on so many buildings in Antwerp. Often, what seems 'exotic' in one place has a parallel in our own lives that is 'routine.'
In any case, the spirit houses were everywhere as I rambled through the city, and I began to photograph them as I went; what you see here is a selection from a larger collection.
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