Chicken eggs and strange beliefs of the Thai people.

In the meals served to guests by the Thai people in My Ly commune, Ky Son district, eggs are often absent. Whether fried eggs, egg soup, or boiled eggs, they are not offered to guests. Very few visitors to this area pay attention to this custom.

Chicken eggs are an indispensable part of many spiritual rituals of the Thai ethnic community in Nghe An. The photo shows a pair of eggs used in a soul-calling ceremony. Photo: Huu Vi

This "unusual characteristic" only became apparent when people from My Ly, a Thai ethnic minority, visited another Thai-inhabited area. A teacher, during a holiday, traveled nearly 200 kilometers through the mountains to Con Cuong district to visit a friend. He was surprised to see a large number of fried and boiled eggs on the table for his guest. Being close friends, the teacher asked, "Aren't you afraid that if you serve your guests eggs, they won't come to your house again?"

My Ly commune, Ky Son district (Nghe An province) is a place where the residents are very hospitable. Eggs are usually not included in the meals they offer to guests. Photo: Huu Vi

It is difficult to explain why the Thai people in My Ly refrain from offering eggs to guests. There is no folk tale about this. However, the egg, specifically a chicken egg, holds more significance in the spiritual beliefs of the Thai people than just that.

During a casual conversation over tea and drinks with a local official in Que Phong district, we inadvertently brought up the role of chicken eggs in the spiritual culture of the Thai people. The female official, a member of the 80s generation, likened the chicken egg on the wedding day to a marriage certificate for the newlywed couple.

This idea reminds me of an important part of Thai wedding ceremonies. When the bride is brought home, the newlywed couple has a shared meal to begin their married life. The meal is incomplete without two boiled eggs. Each egg is cut in half, and the couple must share and eat both halves. This is a ritual in the wedding.

That's not all the spiritual significance of chicken eggs in the community's spiritual life among the Thai people. Something that not everyone, even within the Thai community, realizes is that chicken eggs are present throughout a person's life cycle. Chicken eggs appear on the offering trays during a child's naming ceremony. Then, upon death, in the funeral rites of some Thai ethnic groups, the shaman uses eggs in the ceremony to ask the deceased where they wish to be laid to rest.

During their first meal after the wedding, couples share two pieces of egg each, symbolizing a wish for a happy and fulfilling life together. (Photo: Huu Vi)

In this ritual, the egg serves as a signal for the shaman to know which burial place the soul of the deceased has chosen. The shaman carries the egg and throws it to the ground. The egg breaking is a sign that the soul of the deceased has chosen its final resting place.

Just like the custom of refraining from offering eggs to guests, one cannot question why it is chosen by shamans as a "signal" to connect the living and spirits. However, the fact remains that rituals involving chicken eggs in Thai culture have existed for a very long time.