Remember the look thep (child god) dolls back in 2016? Forget about them because there's a new kid many Thais are worshipping.
Let me introduce you to Ai Kai (egg boy), who is believed to be a benevolent spirit of a boy around nine or 10 years old, who grants you wishes -- especially winning lottery numbers -- when you pray before idols in his likeness.
The most famous and, perhaps original, Ai Kai statue is in a temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Legend has it that Ai Kai was a follower of a revered monk in the Ayutthaya era. The monk told him to guard the place where the temple currently stands. Ai Kai's popularity has recently spiked and his idols have popped up in temples in other provinces, too.
His popularity and believers leave me baffled with so many questions.
Isn't asking a boy (even a magical one) to do your bidding a form of child labour? Why are firecrackers and soldier camouflage uniforms among his favourite offerings? Does this mean he supports dictatorship and militarism? Isn't whispering your wish into his ears risky considered we're living in Covid-19 world? Should we appoint Ai Kai as our new finance minister since he can grant wealth as Phra Phayom Kalayano, the famous abbot of Wat Suan Kaeo, quipped in jest?
Why are many Thais willing to offer a wai to anything people claim to be holy without question? Because we're taught to do that while growing up? Does a spike in his popularity have something to do with people feeling desperate to lift their morale in this Covi-19 world? I guess so.
If we're going to be this gullible to hold on to anything, why don't we worship Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, too? I'm not kidding. I mean we already have a medium who claims to be able to channel Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow (her movie is coming to cinemas next month, BTW).
No seriously, the Sorcerer Supreme could tell us if he sees a future where Thailand has true democracy out of 14,000,605 futures he can foresee. Possible spoiler: Not in your lifetime.
Don't get me started on the Scarlet Witch. Among many magical abilities, she also possesses reality-warping, aka she can do whatever-the-eff she wants with the world while disregarding any rules of science. I would definitely wish her to make a world where Covid-19 doesn't exist so people don't have to worship statues of holy boys. Whatever happened to feminism and girl power?
If someone's entitled to believe in Ai Kai, I'm also entitled to believe in comic book characters. As the Thai saying goes: "If you don't believe in something, don't disrespect it." It implies that if you do, something bad may befall you. I'm willing to test that.
If I'm still alive and well, by the time this editor's note is published, I can surmise that Ai Kai is just another crazed superstition, like look thep, a fad that comes and goes in Thailand.
Just a fictitious idol that many temples are trying to capitalise on. Thailand already has too many idols of worship, thank you very much.