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Fran Lu

A Thai man offered 99 pigs’ heads to thank the Buddha for granting him his deepest wish to have a wife and child.
The Bangkok man, called Wat, made extravagant offerings including 120 boiled eggs and nine kinds of fruit as well as the porker heads, to the Buddha statue at Klang Bang Phra temple in central Thailand’s Nakhom Pathom, on June 24.
The 30-metre-tall Luang Por Somwang statue attracts worshippers from across the country.
Wat made the offerings to thank the Buddha for fulfilling his wish to have a family that he had made four years before, according to media outlet The Thaiger.
He followed a prayer ritual of putting a golden leaf into the statue’s right hand. He also prayed for career success and good fortune.
Wat’s wish came true within a year. He met his future wife, and had a son with her.

He returned with them to the temple to fulfil the vows he had promised the deity. Wat also set off 10,000 firecrackers to thank the Buddha.
After the ritual was completed, the offerings were donated to charity and given to bedridden patients and disadvantaged groups such as the elderly and low-income families, according to Thai newspaper KhaoSod.
“One man’s will fulfilled cost the lives of 99 pigs. I doubt if the Buddha would like that,” one online observer said.
“It is good that all the food could be put to good use in the community,” said another.
It has long been a tradition to offer the heads of pigs to deities and ancestors in southern China, and Southeast Asian countries where there is a large Chinese population.
Ancient people used pigs’ body parts as sacrifices to Buddha because they were the best they could offer.

Parting with an entire pig was more than most families could afford, so many gave the animal’s head and tail to represent the existence of a whole pig.
The more wrinkles there are on the pig’s head, the more longevity it suggests and the better luck people can wish for from the deities.
In 2017, a Thai lawyer of Chinese descent offered 99 pigs’ heads, 99 chickens, 99 trays of apples, and 9,999 eggs at a temple in Uttaradit province in the north of the country.
The number nine and multiples of it are considered lucky in Thai culture.


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Offering pigs’ heads to deities and ancestors is tradition in Southeast Asian countries with populations of Chinese descent


A single man in Thailand who prayed to a temple statue four years ago in pursuit of a wife and child recently returned with thanks, and unusual gifts, after his wishes were finally granted.


Thailand

Religion

Bangkok

Thai man offers heads of 99 pigs to Buddhist deity who ‘gave’ him wife and children

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Offering pigs’ heads to deities and ancestors is tradition in Southeast Asian countries with populations of Chinese descent

Offering pigs’ heads to deities and ancestors is tradition in Southeast Asian countries with populations of Chinese descent