The movie, ร่างทรง or The Medium will be released soon in this upcoming July but the trailer has received great responses from both Thai and foreign viewers. Therefore, this article may be useful for understanding the background of the superstitious beliefs about the spirits in Thailand and providing information to the readers about who the mediums are and what the mediums do.
Background Information About Shamanism in Thailand
It is because Thailand is a country of ethnic and racial diversity, so there are many Thais whose ancestors are Chinese. Therefore, it can be said that Thai beliefs have been influenced by Chinese beliefs; especially in regards to the importance of ancestral spirits since it can be noticed that Thai Chinese people pay attention to the significance of respecting and worshiping their pass away ancestors’ spirits on Chinese New Year, Qing Ming or Tomb Sweeping Day, Hungry Ghost Festival, etc. For example, before the important day like Chinese New Year Day and Tomb Sweeping Day, the descendants will show gratitude and respect to their ancestors by cleaning the burial grounds for them. Then, on Chinese New Year and Cheng Meng Day, they bring pig’s heads, chickens, ducks, liquor, etc. to perform rituals and worship their ancestors in order to pay respects to them. In addition, because of traditional Chinese beliefs in which Thai Chinese focus on ancestral spirits, it gradually turns into the belief that when they are in trouble, they will think that they probably do something that upset or anger their respectful ancestors. Besides, when something good happens, they think that it is thanks to the ancestral spirits who bless and help them as well. They even pray and make a wish at the ancestral tablets because they believe the ancestral spirits who dwell in the tablets to look after them can fulfill their desire.
All of the aforementioned leads to the beliefs of incarnation and communicating with the spirits, not only about the ancestral spirits but when times go by, it also includes the evil spirits as well. Besides, Thai Chinese believe that there are spirits, (especially, ancestral spirits) that surround them every day and everywhere, but Thai people also inherit this belief. ร่างทรง (read as rang-zong) or the medium in English is a person who can communicate with angels, gods, and the spirits. The medium and the communication with the spirits have been part of the beliefs of sacred angels, mysticism, or superstitions that have been occurred and believed by people since many decades ago up until the present time. Thai people do not only believe in ancestral spirits, they believe that spirits dwell in every place such as in the houses, animals, trees, mountains, etc. The traditional belief of the spirits that are similar to what Thai Chinese people think of ancestral spirits is that when they are severely sick to the degree that the medicine they take and the doctors cannot cure them, they start to believe that it is caused by wrongdoings against the evil spirits so that the evil spirits follow to avenge them and torture them physically and mentally. Hence, they must find the medium that can connect with every spirit and let the medium communicate with the evil spirits that intervene in their lives and who make them sick. The mediums act as an intermediary to ask what the spirits want and what should they do to please the spirit. After that, they make offerings to the spirits as either an apology or thankfulness. Therefore, when some people are sick, they look for the medium. Some people also see the medium as the savior when they experience failure in life as the medium can dispel bad luck from them. Most importantly, when people experience strange incidents and accidents in life, they will think that they are followed by some spirits. Hence, they will go to meet the medium and ask the medium to exorcise the evil spirit out of them. Furthermore, it is also believed that the medium can predict the zodiac horoscope as well.
Based on the concept of such beliefs, it can be concluded that the cause of human belief about the spirits is due to the feeling of insecurity from supernatural powers. When a destructive natural incident occurs to their life or their beloved one’s life, it makes humans assume that this world has mystical things that are scary and are out of their control. When they cannot find a reason to explain these mysteries of the mystical things that happen in their lives, they think that there are ghosts and spirits in which some spirits are evil and vengeful so that they have to perform rituals with the medium. Soy they go to meet with the medium whom they imagine will relieve the incidents, or make them feel safe. In contrast, there are also many people who give importance to science more than superstition. So, they think that communication with the spirit is nonsense, the rituals are absurd and meaningless. Nevertheless, in the present time, there are still many people who believe in the spirits and are willing to pay for the rituals of exorcism, communication with spirits, etc. These make the mediums are also able to maintain their role and their importance to Thai people in the society despite the social, economic, and political constant change in the present time.
In conclusion, superstition in Thai society is something that is a miracle and mystery. It is magical, sacred, and mysterious things that dominate mankind and their fortune. In sum, there are two superstition beliefs: bringing good fortune, success, on the other hand destroying or eliminating inauspicious things that happen to humans.
Recap From the Trailer
It can be seen from the trailer that in the northeast part of Thailand, many villagers and the grandmother who lives in a village worship a sacred thing called ‘Bayan’. And the grandmother is the medium of Bayan which has been worshiped from many mediums generation to generation.
In the trailer, it can be seen that in front of every house, people hang red clothes in front of their house in order to dispel the widow ghosts which is the belief from the northeast part of Thailand.
This is an exorcism. The medium will let the person who is possessed by the spirits eat raw eggs and they will throw up to let out inauspicious things that the person receives from the spirits. Then the medium will perform a ritual to exorcise.
So, these are all about the idea of Shamanism in Thailand, nowadays, many people still believe in superstitious things that they think cannot be explained in scientific ways. The mediums in Thailand still receive much respect from many people from different regions, especially when they experience something auspicious and beyond nature.
