Due

I've definitely been slacking in school the past couple of days. I think my workload is starting to wear me down. But as much as I've been slacking, I have been doing some research for my first magazine story.

I'm planning on doing a story on the history of spirit houses (also known as Sarn phra phum ) and Prof. Lee Kavaljian's creation of these intricate spiritual pieces. The first things first, what is a spirit house? Like a good student I hit the library, only to find that there's very little written literature about spirit houses. So I tried a different approach, the Internet. I found a myriad of information on these artistic spiritual houses.

These unique and beautiful houses can be seen outside of Thai business establishments, private homes and temples. I learned that there is a mixture of Buddhist, Animist and Brahmist history behind spirit houses. The purpose of a spirit house is to provide shelter for the spirits of the land, it is believed that by offering shelter the spirits will protect the land and keep it from harm.

I also realized that I had a lot more research to do. I started looking up books in the library and articles on the Internet about the ceremony involved in setting up a spirit house.

Hopefully with all the information I've gathered, I'll be able to ask Prof. Kavaljian some good questions when he lectures to a class today about his own exquisite spirit house creations. And I'm hoping to speak to Prof. Chirapravati about her own experiences with Prof. Kavaljian's artwork and her knowledge of spirit houses.