Thailand: A woman makes merit in front of an old wooden spirit house in the grounds of a Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. Many Thai people believe that every house should have its own spirit house providing for the well-being of the locality spirit. These may be anywhere in the garden (even, in big cities, on the roof), with the important proviso that the shadow of human habitation should never fall on the spirit house, the home of the original and true owner of the land - the chao thii.