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One of common themes in new year rituals in northern Thailand is the expulsion of the misfortune and bad luck that has accumulated over the previous year. One of the ways this is done in Baan Tiam, in Chiang Mai province, is by burning khi saay (ขี้สาย) - cotton threads soaked in fragrant olive oil. Cotton thread is commonly used on ritual occasions: to tie wrists, to demarcate sacred places and to provide a physical link with sources of sacred power. In this particular case the oil-soaked threads represent the bad luck that the household has accrued over the past year.
 
On the morning of the first day of the year (paak pi - 16 April) the threads are taken to the temple and hung on long bamboo poles. One thread is brought for each member of the household, plus one for the chickens, dogs, cows and any other livestock. The rice barn and the motorbike may also be represented.
 
After a blessing in the temple the women of the village rush to burn the strings. Once they are burnt the bad luck is gone, and all that remains is the good that will unfold in the year to come.
I am not sure on the best way to translate khi saay. What about “unlucky strings”? Or “leftover strings”? Any suggestions?
1 response so far ↓
1 Massimo Parizzi // May 4, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Dear Nicholas Farrell, I’m the editor of an Italian magazine published in English too as “Here-Notes from the Present†(www.quihere.eu). Next issue of it will be titled “Bordersâ€, and I’d like to publish, as cover picture, the photo of the border Burma-China you published on March 13th, 2007 with the legend “This photo, snapped in a small border settlement in southwest Yunnan, shows just how easily some parts of this border can be negotiated. The official border point - staffed by soldiers and marked by bollards - is about 100 metres south of where this photo was taken. For context, I am standing in China, and the women in orange are crossing from Burma.” May I have your permission? Moreover, since our magazine comes out on paper, do you have it in a better definition? Thank you very much, and best regards
Massimo Parizzi massimoparizzi@alice.it
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