Mae sue

Mae sue (Thai: แม่ซื้อ) in Thai culture means a goddess or a ghost spirit who is always beside an infant for protecting them from an illness or making them sick, this depends on a character of Mae Sue who is assigned to each day of the week.[1]

Appearance

  • Sunday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has Singha’s head and red skin.
  • Monday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has horse’s head and ivory skin.
  • Tuesday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has buffalo’s head and pink skin.
  • Wednesday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has elephant's head and green skin.
  • Thursday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has deer’s head and pale yellow skin.
  • Friday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has cow’s head and pale blue skin.
  • Saturday - Mae Sue who is assigned to this day has tiger’s head and black skin.[2]

Rite

Ron Kra Dong( ร่อนกระด้ง)

People will put an infant in a threshing basket and say “It has been a child of ghosts for 3 days. It’s been a child of humans for 4 days. Who are parents? Take them.(สามวันลูกผี สี่วันลูกคน ลูกของใคร ใครเอาไปเน้อ)”. They believe after parents hold the infant, Mae Sue will no longer be worrying about the infant.[2]

Jook haircut (จุก)

Parents will put the clay dolls of different styles of jook haircut (Thai ancient hairstyles) near the infant. The infant will have their hairstyle as the first doll they caught. They believe Mae Sue made the infant catch the doll she like.[3] They will have a rite to change the hairstyle again when the girl turns 11 years old and a boy turns 13-15 years old.

Relation to science

This is similar to colic or the act of crying a lot without any reason in the infants 0 day - 12 weeks of age.[4]

References

  1. ↑ ถนอมวงษ์, ปณิตา.(2016) เล่าเรื่องตำนานแม่ซื้อ ตอนที่ ๑, สมาคมเภสัชและอายุรเวชโบราณแห่งประเทศไทย. [online] Retrieved from http://www.ayurvedicthai.com/articles/4890536 (Accessed: 28 March 2018)
  2. 1 2 แม่ซื้อ:แม่ในความเชื่อ เทวดาข้างกายทารก. Archive.clib.psu.ac.th. Retrieved from https://archive.clib.psu.ac.th/online-exhibition/MAESUE/Maesue2.html (Accessed: 28 March 2018).
  3. ↑ Intangible Cultural Heritage (2013) พิธีโกนจุก, Available at: http://ich.culture.go.th/index.php/th/ich/social-practices-rituals-and-festive-events/265-practices-rituals-festivals/466--m-s (Accessed: 28 March 2018).
  4. ↑ Barr, RG (2002). "Changing our understanding of infant colic". Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine. 156 (12):1172–4. doi:10.1001/archpedi.156.12.1172 (Accessed: 28 March 2018).
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