Practice: day colours and luck
What you will be able to do
Wear the right colour, stand at the right moments, and behave correctly around spirit houses and lottery talk.
A short tour of the customs you will meet this week: your day-of-week colour, the two shrines outside every building, the anthems you stand for, and the lottery talk that is half joke and half serious.
The royal anthem plays before a film. What do you do?
Stand, hat off, phone down, until it ends. This is the one custom backed by the lese-majeste law as well as social pressure — the cinema is never the place to make a point.
ศาลพระภูมิ (the tall shrine on one pillar) is for…
ศาลพระภูมิ (sǎan phrá phuum) is the spirit house for the guardian spirit of the land — the tall one on a single pillar. The low shrine on four legs next to it is ศาลเจ้าที่, for the spirit of the land itself.
น้ำแดง, the classic spirit-house offering, is…
น้ำแดง (náam daeng) is red syrup soda — the classic spirit house offering, straw included.
เพลงชาติ (the national anthem) plays at what times in public spaces?
The national anthem plays in public spaces at 08:00 and 18:00. Stand until it finishes.
เกิดวันอะไร means…
เกิดวันอะไร (gòet wan à-rai) — what day of the week were you born on? Answer ผม/ฉันเกิดวัน + your day, then expect the follow-up about your colour.
A woman says “I was born on a Monday” as…
A woman says ฉัน (chǎn); a man says ผม (phǒm). So ฉันเกิดวันจันทร์ (chǎn gòet wan jan). Swap the day for your own.
เลขเก้า (the number nine) is lucky because it sounds like…
เลขเก้า (lêek gâo) — nine sounds like ก้าว (gâao), to step forward, which is why it is the lucky number.
หวย (the lottery) is drawn on…
หวย (hǔuay), the lottery, is drawn on the 1st and 16th of every month.
ถูกหวย means…
ถูกหวย (thùuk hǔuay) — to win the lottery.
In news and political talk, เสื้อเหลือง (yellow shirt) means…
เสื้อเหลือง (sêua lěuang) and เสื้อแดง (red shirt) are also the names of the two rival political movements of 2006–2014. In news the phrase means the faction, not the garment — politics, not your conversation to start. Wearing plain yellow on a royal day is unremarkable.
สีประจำวันเกิด means…
สีประจำวันเกิด (sǐi bprà-jam wan gòet) — the colour of the day of the week you were born on. Every Thai knows theirs; the question comes up in small talk.
ขอเลขเด็ดหน่อย is said, half joking, to…
ขอเลขเด็ดหน่อย (khǎw lêek dèt nàwy) — give me a lucky number, would you. Said half joking to monks, fortune tellers and, sooner or later, to you.
ศาลเจ้าที่ is the low shrine on four legs for…
ศาลเจ้าที่ (sǎan jâo thîi) is the low shrine on four legs, for the spirit of the land itself. The tall one on a pillar is ศาลพระภูมิ, for the guardian spirit.
What should you do when เพลงชาติ plays in a public space?
Stand until the national anthem finishes. Same rule, hat off and phone down, for the royal anthem before a film.
Common mistake
Staying seated, or filming, when the royal anthem plays before a film. Stand up, hat off, phone down, until it ends. This is the one custom backed by the lese-majeste law as well as social pressure, and the cinema is never the place to make a point.