Lao Voices

The belief in ghost or spirit has been in our Lao/Thai culture for generations, especially the belief of ghost in the house. The younger generations might think its nonsense, and superstition, but not according to our parents or grandparents, whom believe in ghost spirit in the house, might be because they’re thinking that eventually they’ll become the ghost of the house.

Because of this belief, there’re many things that we could and couldn’t do inside our own home, therefore this belief dictates how we live our lives, sounds a bit silly now, but if you’re Lao or Thai, you might not think it’s silly after all.

There’re basic rules that I’ve to follow, silly right? Me, following rules of superstition, don’t laugh because I might not be the only one, you might find yourself doing this also. I was told that when I sleep, I’m not suppose to lay my arms across my chest or in a hug myself position, not suppose to lay my arm (wrist) across my forehead, not suppose to sleep below the beams of the house, simple explanation given to me, “Pee See Umm.”

Pee Umm, which loosely translated as ghost controlling your body while you’re asleep, but I believe that it’s the same as a paradoxical sleep in which intense dreaming occurs during REM sleep as a result of heightened brain activity, but paralysis occurs simultaneously in the major voluntary muscle groups, which is a mixture of encephalic (brain) states of excitement and muscular immobility. Long explanation for Americans, Lao/Thai just call it Pee Umm, short and simple to the point.

Most younger generations don’t believe in Pee Umm, but they’re still experiencing or dreaming that gave them the sense of Pee Umm. However, if we’re to pay closer attention as to why our parents or grandparents don’t want us to sleep under the above conditions, then we’d see that it has nothing to do with Pee Umm, but a simple reason that we should pay more attention to how we sleep, even while we’re unconscious during our sleep, not just flop your body down and no telling which direction your feet are pointing when you wake up. This is all about mannerism, even while we’re asleep, and as for crossing your arms over your chest, you’re restricting the amount of oxygen intake, therefore not a good position to sleep and should be avoided, to prevent us from doing this, they’d say “Pee See Umm,” and it works every time.

The ceiling beams above your bed are a Feng Shui nightmare, and Lao/Thai call it Pee Umm, but the term nightmare that is being used here, I seriously doubt if it means the same as Pee Umm. I think it means that the beams can be a source of cutting chi and the beams carry a tremendous load, and this pressure is focused into the beams generating chi, which continues downwards, placing direct pressure on you while you sleep.

Of course, this is a Chinese belief but has creeping into the westerner society and belief as well, everyone now a day is talking about Feng Shui. I’m not sure if that were in the back of our parents or grandparents’ mind when they told us not to sleep beneath the beams because if I were them, I’d be thinking about safety issue first, who ever is underneath the beams, assuming if the beams were to come down, whether you’re sitting, standing, or sleeping, you’d be the first to go, but this is thinking from the perspective of housing in Laos/Thailand where the houses are not as sturdy as houses in the US.

The belief of ghost in the house doesn’t stop just at our sleeping positions, but dictates our other habits and daily routines as well.

To Be Continued…