Sanprapumi

This photojournalism is about the worship of the shrine of the household god. As time goes by things start to decay and corrode, as same as the sprite house which gets older and worns out, therefore we need to replace the missing parts and repair the shrine in order to make the gods in the Spirit house please and still taking care and protecting us from the dangers and bad things.

Firstofall,weneedtopreparetheflowers,incenses,candles,foods,dessertsand drinks for the worship. Every food and dessert is needed to be placed on gold and silver trays. We usually use gold and silver trays because gold represents the beauty while silver conveys the money.

Secondly, the Brahmin will put on his uniform because now he is ready to commence the ceremony. Then the Brahmin will request for percepts which is a psalm about Buddha, Buddha’s teaching and clergy.

Thirdly, he will respectfully engage the Household God, Village God, King of Monkey Land, Queen of Earth, Queen of Water, God of Death, 4 Hell keepers and the Four Heavenly Kings. He asked the Queen of Earth to be the eye witness for this ceremony. Then the ceremony starts as the candles and incenses are lighted and theGodsarepresentedintheceremonytoacceptthesacrificessuchaspig’shead, duck, shrimp, fruits and Thai dessert. Then the house’s owner will apologise and ask for the forgiveness from the Gods who they are relied on and make mis-takes.

The biggest mistake is that the members in the house might promise some-thingwiththeGodbutunfortunatelytheyhaven’tfulfilledone’svoworhavefor-gottenthevow.Thereforethemembershopethatthesesacrificeswillhelptofulfillthe promises.

Because we engaged the Gods we need to send them back to where they come from. After we sent all the gods back we portion out the food and drink for the soul both inside and outside because they cannot climb up and eat on the tablewepreparedsoweneedtoputthefoodonleavesonthefloor.Wearedo-nating the food and etc, so that the souls on the street will not disturb and feud us.

Dawn

At 6.30 am, the table is still blank as there is no one there. The table is prepared for the ceremony which will take place later on the day. The old or broken tiered umbrellas, 3 colours cloths, dancing girls and Buddha image are going to be replaced and repaired today. This worship will be took place annually by a Brahmin.

Scarifies ThesearethesacrificeswhichthehouseownerpreparedfortheGods so that the Guardian of the House will watch over and protect thehome.Thesacrificesarealsousedtoapologiseandaskfortheforgiveness from the Gods who we might have promised but forgot to fulfillone’svowsothesesacrificeswouldhelpustofulfillsomepartsofthe promises.Hereisthelistofthesacrifices.2 Rice Offering 2 Boiled eggs (putting on the top of rice offering) 1 Pig head1 Cooked chicken1 Cooked duck1 Cooked Fish2 Coconuts2 Bananas 2 Boiled sweet rice1 Seasonal Fruits1 Rice

Repairing Tiered umbrellas are needed to be replaced as the old ones are bent and the cloth is torn, therefore new tiered umbrellas are needed. To take them out, the guy used a special tool to crack off the broken umbrellas then he stick the new ones back to the same place by using double sided tape. If the cores of the umbrellas are not straight, he needs to adjust them and make sure that the umbrellas are parallel to each other, the gold and the silver ones.

Left over

These are the dancing girls, followers, elephant and horse which are broken or sprout. They are left on the table in front of the spirit house before the worship begins because there still have spirits or souls inside so the Brahmin needs to invite them to the new one before remove them. After the worship these dolls are placed under the giant trees in temple or public park.

The Brahmin

He is the one who is doing the worship for many people’s houses. He prac-tices the study of Brahmin until he can see and feel the Gods and the souls. In the photo, he is praying for the Gods and respectfully engages them to take part in this worship. He said he saw the past members of the family while he was worship-ing. This means he can sometimes contact the souls. However, this worship is good for the people who believe in sacred and spirits. For the people who are not be-lieved this should not disrespect the gods because it’s something complicated.

Wishing

To begin the ceremony or the worship, the Brahmin will gather the house owner to hold the golden tray and he will pray and ask for the goods such as money, beauty and good health from the Gods togeth-er.

Invitation A house owner’s hand is embroidering the incenses on the food pro-vided to invite the Household God, Village God, King of Monkey Land, Queen of Earth, Queen of Water, God of Death, 4 Hell keepers and the Four Heavenly Kings to the worship.

Donation

Right after the ceremony, we separate the foods and drinks into 2 small portions on the banana leaves. The foods are pork, duck’s organs, chicken, shrimp, crab, fish, rice, Thai dessert, fruits and glasses of water. We also embroil the incenses to invite the souls to come and enjoy the feast. We donate the food to them so that they won’t disturb or feud us. We put the food on the floor because it’s improper for them to eat with the Gods on the table.