I recently learned about a totally fascinating part of Thai folklore and wanted to share: the practice of a kuman thong (กุมารทอง). In Pali, kuman means “little boy” and thong means “golden,” so the kuman thong are effigies of children with gold leaf on them. They are believed to represent the spirit of a child and proper treatment of the effigy, thus honoring the spirit, will bring good fortune. It is also a practice of necromancy.
Traditional Practices around Kuman Thong
Traditionally, the kuman thong was a male baby that had died in his mother’s womb. The body was delivered via a cesarean, was roasted until it was dry while being chanted over, then covered in lacquer and gold leaf. All of this must be done in a cemetery and before dawn.
The now amulet is kept in the house and given offerings of food and candy and cared for as if the child is alive. Sometimes the spirit may tease small children, and as such, the kuman thong must be disciplined in the traditional Thai fashion: a hit with a wooden stick.
Often owners of this amulet will refer to it as “their son.” The owners are not necessarily a mother who has experienced a miscarriage or a stillbirth, and sometimes may have been visited by a spirit calling to them as if they are their parent. The spirit of the child is often believed to have powers of premonition and can warn against danger.
Kuman Thong Today
Today, using human remains for ceremonies is illegal. There are still some amulets that are supposedly made using oil made from a deceased child or someone who has died very violently to consecrate the talisman, because it is believed to make the amulet more powerful. The most innocuous forms of these amulets are carved from demolished wats, where it is believed that the wood soaked up the chants of the resident monks.
Despite the illegality of using human remains for such ceremonies there have been several high profile cases showing that such practices still exist today. In 1995 a monk was forced out of the monastery after video of him roasting a baby came out. In 2010, 14 dead babies were found in a house in rural Thailand and were being sold for ritualistic purposes. And in 2012, a man was arrested for trying to smuggle six roasted and prepared bodies to Taiwan with the intent to sell them as good luck charms.
This is not to say that this is a common practice among Thai people, and likely the more prevalent forms of this belief do not involve human remains and are simply representations made by carving wood and covering it in gold leaf. But I thought that this practice was really interesting and worth sharing.