Ting mong are Cambodian scarecrows placed near a home's front gate to chase away evil spirits, bad luck, disease or death..
The village in which we work has a cluster of tightly-packed houses, and one dirt lane has many houses with
ting mong in front. I'm not sure of the reason for so many in one place. Perhaps there had been an outbreak of some disease or bad luck in the area and everyone was covering their bases.
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| I think this one's head is made of an old IV solution bottle. |
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| Headless ting mong? |
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Coconut head
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| This one's ready for anything with his helmet. |
2 comments:
I love this, especially because we are planning to make scare crows at our family supper. Lacking motorcycle helmets and coconuts. we'll do the VT version--corn stalks, grocery bags and straw...
Hi Jess, When I was there last time I was also curious about the "scarecrows" eveywhere, mostly in countryside. It was explained to me that if a real human being met an evil spirit at the front of the house they are be powerless to stop themselves answering "yes" to the evil spirit when it says it want to come inside. By placing an effigy that cannot speak at the front, the evil spirit will turn away when they ask the question as they have not been invited in, there fore keeping the house safe.
Just a bit of trivia for you! Love the blogs. Cheers Debbie
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