Most Thai temples, and most Thai houses for that matter, give some space to the other Gods. Maybe just to be polite, maybe just to be on the safe side. Maybe God is Hindu after all! Or Chinese!
This is a nicely maintained Chinese Deity surrounded by Hindu Gods prominently displayed on the grounds of the mountain top temple in Mae Hong Son.
Thailand is a "crossroads culture," right in the middle of China, India and those millions of islands that I refer to as "the Archipeligo countries." So it all comes together here: the languages, the alphabets, the architecture, the religions, the shape of the eyes, the skin color, hair texture, everything. Maybe that's how they tolerate Farang so well.
2 comments:
Weren't "Ferangi" those bald, money-grubbing aliens on Star Trek Next Generation? Think the name is a coincidence?
"Farang" is Thai for the guava fruit. When some Frenchmen showed up and said, "Je sui Francois," (SP), it sounded to the Thais like they were saying, "we are guava."
I always thought that the Ferengi thing was very anti-semitic, like they were the Space Jews or something.
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