SUPERSTITION has raised its silly head in Thailand and India this week.
From the BBC we learn that’s there’s been a bit of a hoo-ha at Thailand’s main international airport, where a plan has been unveiled to move 12 large statues of spirit demons to new positions in the concourse.
And from Andy, over at the Pink Triangle, we hear that Hindu worshippers at a temple in the Indian coastal district of Kendrapara, eastern Orissa, are refusing to part with a “holy” turtle.
The priest of the temple, Ramesh Mishra, told reporters:
Lord Jagannath has visited our village in the form of a turtle. We will not allow anybody to take the turtle away.
it’s illegal to keep turtles in captivity in India,
Back to Thailand, where officials announced that they were moving the 12 demons – each 6m high. Local news reports say that airport staff had complained that the demons, collectively worth almost a million dollars, had been bringing bad luck and should be relocated.
But the authorities say they are relocating their spirit statues to the check-in area, where they are more likely to be noticed and appreciated by passengers.
But moving the statues is not a matter to be taken lightly. Buddhists believe the demons to be symbols of anger, strength and power. And some astrologers are warning that shifting them to a new location could bring more bad luck.
They have suggested a safer option could be to turn them to face a different direction.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 11th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Quite right too. You can’t be too careful. Reminds me of the atheist scientist who had a lucky horseshoe nailed above his door. A friend asked, “I thought you didn’t believe in this nonsense?”
“Just because I don’t believe in it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work,” the scientist replies.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
That’s awesome. Interesting note about turtles in India. I knew girls who had a turtle for a pet and its little plastic pen reeked to high heaven. It was nasty. I’d totally be against turtle ownership if everyone neglected to clean up after them. What’s India’s reason?
The twelve demons amuse me to no end. I’ll have to ask my uncle if he’s seen those. He’s been to Thailand many times and never had any trouble — although his weird fake teeth fell out. He got them in Thailand while on an engineering job over there somewhere and they fell out during his recent job in Indonesia. Upon returning for a visit home to Canada, dentists were amazed (shocked? appalled?) by the work and unwilling to try duplicating it. He had to spend the whole visit keeping his mouth shut so we couldn’t laugh at him. I wonder which one of those merry demons should get the credit…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
You have my very deepest sympathy, Barry. Those passport photos ALWAYS make you look like some kind of a monster, don’t they?
November 11th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Twelve statues displayed in Bangkok,
At the airport, have caused quite a shock.
The karma is bad,
And that’s very sad;
Could feng shui restore their good luck?
November 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
It’s turtles all the way down, don’t take them away the sky will fall in !