Summary
11 November 2009
12 large statues of demon spirits are being moved to new positions in Thailand's main international airport. But it's not clear if the reason lies in aesthetics or superstition.
Reporter:
Rachel Harvey
Protesters at Bangkok's Don Muang airport in 2008
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Report
You would have thought it hard to miss one six metre high, scowling demon, let alone 12. But the authorities at Bangkok's main airport say they're relocating their spirit statues to the check-in area, where they're thought more likely to be noticed and appreciated by passengers.
Local media are reporting the real reason for the move is that airport staff had come to believe the figures, collectively worth almost a million dollars, had brought them bad luck. Last year the airport was blockaded for eight days by political protestors, resulting in a big loss in earnings.
But moving the statues is not a matter to be taken lightly. Buddihsts believe the demons to be symbols of anger, strength and power. Some astrologers are warning that shifting them to a new location might bring more bad luck and have suggested a safer option might be simply to turn them around to face a different direction.
Rachel Harvey, 大象传媒 News, Bangkok
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Vocabulary
- hard to miss
difficult not to notice, not to see
- scowling
frowning, showing on your face that you are unhappy or annoyed by something
- let alone
used after a negative statement (here, hard to miss one statue) to emphasise how unlikely another situation (here, miss 12 statues)
- relocating
moving to another place or location
- blockaded
when a country or place (here, the airport) is surrounded by soldiers (or here, protesters) to stop something (here, planes) going in or out
- resulting in a big loss in earnings
making a lot of businesses lose money or be unprofitable
- not a matter to be taken lightly
something that should be thought about very seriously
- demons to be symbols
spirits (often evil or bad ones) are signs
- astrologers
people who believe that the movement of the stars at our birth and at other times influences how we behave and what happens to us
- shifting them to a new location
moving them to another place
