Phi in Kham Mueang: Ghost and Spirit Words

At the end of October many countries dress up as ghosts for Halloween. Ask someone from northern Thailand what phi (ผี) means, though, and the answer is much wider than a spook. The dictionary explains phi as something mysterious and unseen that can bring both good and harm to people, communities, animals and plants. Phi also means a corpse, and it is used for people who behave badly, as in phi phanan, a gambler.

This article gathers the Kham Mueang words that begin with "phi" from the Moradok Lanna dictionary: ancestor spirits, guardian spirits that protect villages and towns, forest spirits from folk belief, and words that start with phi but are not spirits at all, such as the rainbow and the shooting star. Every belief here is told as the dictionary and the cited sources record it, to help you learn the language and understand the culture.

Ancestor spirits: the phi who look after a family

For Lanna people many phi are not things to fear but ancestors who still look after their descendants. The dictionary explains that phi pu ya (ผีปู่ย่า) are a family's own spirits. They hold the kin group together and help settle quarrels. They pass down the female line: when a mother dies, her eldest daughter takes over, and wherever she moves, the phi pu ya go with her.

Every year the family holds liang phi pu ya (ล้ยฯงผีปู่ย่า), "feeding the ancestor spirits". The dictionary says it is usually held before Buddhist Lent, around the ninth northern month. If someone breaks custom, for example a young man touches a young woman, it is called phit phi, "wronging the spirits". The woman's side must kho su ma (ขํอฯสูมา), ask forgiveness, and the man must sia phi (เสยฯผี), pay a fine in offerings and money set by the woman's family. The full ceremony is described in Liang Phi Pu Ya.

Phi suea: guardians of villages, towns and temples

In Kham Mueang phi suea (ผีเสิ้อฯอ) does not mean the pretty insect. It means a guardian spirit of a place, such as the guardian of a village, a mountain, a town or a temple. These spirits live in a ho phi (หํอฯผี), a spirit house, and villagers make offerings every year to ask for their protection.

You can read more about Chiang Mai's guardian spirits in Pu Sae and Ya Sae. Academic work such as Prasit Leepreecha's book Lanna Guardian Spirits: From the Spirit House to the Statue, Shrine and Monument (2017) shows that belief in guardian spirits lives on, moving from wooden spirit houses to statues and shrines today.

Forest spirits, tree spirits and spirits of folk tales

These are the phi of stories passed down in the north, often told to teach caution in the forest and respect for nature. Every meaning in the table describes a belief as the dictionary records it.

Phi ka: a belief to handle with care

The dictionary explains that phi ka (ผีกลฯะ) is the northern name for the phi pop. In the belief, it is a spirit living inside a person; if its host is crossed, the phi ka goes to possess the other person, who then behaves strangely until a mo phi (หํมฯอฯผี), a spirit doctor, drives it out. A fiercer kind is phi ka yak (ผีกลฯะยัก์ขฯ). The bird said to carry the phi ka is nok kao phi ka (น฿กฯเคั้าฯผีกะ), the barn owl or another owl (see Bird Names in Kham Mueang).

Possession, mediums and spirit doctors

Kham Mueang has several words for possession. The dictionary gathers them under phi kum (ผีกุม), a spirit taking over a body so that its owner obeys without knowing it. Phi long (ผีล฿งฯ) is used for a medium who deliberately invites a spirit in.

The word ma khi, "the ridden horse", is a vivid one: the medium is the horse the spirit rides. Calling a person's soul back is a different rite, described in Hong Khwan.

Phi tai: words for different kinds of death

Phi tai (ผีตายฯ) means a corpse or a dead person. Kham Mueang has separate words for deaths seen as out of the ordinary. Use them with care and respect for the dead.

Words that start with phi but are not spirits

The most fun part of this family: many words begin with "phi" but mean everyday things.

Summary

• Phi in Kham Mueang covers protecting spirits and feared ones; it also means a corpse and is used for people who behave badly.
• Ancestor spirits such as phi pu ya, phi huean and phi mo nueng look after a family; phi pu ya pass down the female line.
• Phi suea means a guardian spirit, as in phi suea ban, phi mueang and phi suea wat; the butterfly is kam boe.
• The phi ka belief once led to people being accused and driven out; learn it with understanding and never use it to label anyone.
• Some words begin with phi but are not spirits: phi ngueak hung (rainbow), phi pung sao (shooting star) and phi li (very beautiful).

Look up more phi words in the Moradok Lanna dictionary. For the rites, read Liang Phi Pu Ya and Hong Khwan, or see the rice-steaming pot and other utensils in Lanna Kitchen Words.

Sources

• Moradok Lanna dictionary: ผี · ผีปู่ย่า · ผีเสื้อบ้าน · ผีก๋ะ · ผีเงือกฮุง
• Edwin Roy Zehner. (2015). ผีกะในภาคเหนือของไทยตอนปลายคริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 19 สืบเชื้อสายตามตระกูลแม่จริงหรือไม่ [Memories of Phii Ka Accusations in Northern Thailand]. Asia Social Issues, 8(1), 15–34.
• Isara Treepunya. (2020). Book review: Lanna Guardian Spirits: From the Spirit House to the Statue, Shrine and Monument (Prasit Leepreecha, 2017). Chophayom Journal, 31(1), 124–138.
• Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, ethnic groups database. Mlabri Maniq seminar summary (in Thai)
• Photos from Wikimedia Commons as credited under each image; they illustrate the words, and some were taken outside northern Thailand as noted in the captions.