Toys for adults: how in Thailand they go crazy for mascot dolls

In Thailand, there is a widespread and creepy craze - adults "adopt" dolls, believing that spirits (for example, children killed in abortions) inhabit them. Thais worship their favorite dolls, carry them everywhere with them and are sure that they bring good luck. Where did such popularity come from?

Imagine that you are sitting in a cafe, and at the next table an adult woman is feeding a doll with a spoon. This is a case of "doll fever", because Thais now adore mascot dolls.

Thai airline Smile Airways already serves dolls as live passengers.

After the anxious care of the doll and religious rituals (the woman took the doll to the temple to pray together for the best behavior of her son), the young man settled down, left the bad company, found a part-time job and began dating a girl. For her help, Mananya Bunmi put gold rings on each finger of a doll named Petch. And then she took the pseudonym Mama Ning and began mass production of dolls with a soul, calling them Luk Thep, "Angel's Child".

Mama Ning with a Petch doll and her other numerous "children".

The name of the doll Luk Thep translates as "Angel's Child".

Thais believe in spirits and ghosts that inhabit any object, including dolls.

Locals believe that if you take care of the Luk Thep doll, it will definitely bring good luck.

The scale of worship sometimes goes beyond reasonable. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha even made a speech in which he urged Thais not to go crazy about Luk Thep and distinguish superstition from reality.

Criminal scandals did not bypass the dolls either. At Chiang Mai airport in a doll-"girl" Onion Thep attackers tried to take out of Thailand 200 methamphetamine tablets. Now the border guards inspect the dolls with special care, which can not but outrage the owners.

Buddhist temples were tested for rituals with dolls, but then the rituals were allowed if the monks did not profit from them.

It is possible to treat with irony the obsession of Thais with creepy dolls. But one couple who "adopted" a rubber baby won the lottery 17 times in a year! And the career of DJ Bukko Thanatchhayapan skyrocketed after the purchase of the "boy" Luk Thep. As soon as he gave the doll a gold chain, he got a role in a big movie.