Phi Krahang, the villager with rice-sieve wings

Phi Krahang is a spirit of Thai tradition.

By day a villager, by night a flier with sieve and pestle.

SpiritThailand

Phi Krahang

Phi Krahang is the male counterpart to the Krasue, a spirit of rural Thailand that flies through the air at night using two large rice sieves as wings and a long wooden rice pestle as a mount. By day he lives unrecognised as an ordinary villager.

The name combines phi, spirit, with krahang. According to tradition, a Phi Krahang is usually a man who failed to master black magic or broke a vow to his sorcery master. Some versions additionally give him a stunted, hidden tail as a sign of the failed transformation.

His nightly roaming grounds overlap with those of the Krasue, but he is considered less bloodthirsty and less specifically dangerous than she is.

At a glance: Phi Krahang

Type: Nocturnal flying spirit, the male counterpart to the Krasue
Origin: Rural Thai spirit belief surrounding failed black magic
Texts: Folk tradition, recorded among others by Anuman Rajadhon
Period: traditionally rooted and alive into the present
Appearance: bare-chested man in a loincloth, flying with two rice sieves as wings and a rice pestle as a mount

Context of the tradition

Period of the Texts

Rural Thai folk tradition: the belief is traditionally rooted and alive into the present, for instance in film and folklore.

Area of Diffusion

Rural Thailand, where the nightly roaming grounds of the Phi Krahang overlap with those of the Krasue.

Sources

Means: Fundamental are the works of Phraya Anuman Rajadhon on Thai folk belief, complemented by Justin Thomas McDaniel’s study on spirits and monks.

Name and variants

Thai: The name combines phi, spirit, with krahang. Thai tradition understands the figure as the male counterpart to the female Krasue.

Appearance and behaviour

Appearance

At night, the Phi Krahang appears as a bare-chested man in a loincloth who flies through the air using two large round rice sieves as wings and a long wooden rice pestle as a mount. Some versions of the tradition give him a stunted, hidden tail. The everyday objects of rice farming, sieve and pestle, firmly anchor him in the rural way of life.

Effect

By day, the Phi Krahang lives unrecognised as an ordinary villager; at night, he haunts the village surroundings and the paths of night walkers. He embodies failure at black magic and the breaking of a vow to a sorcery master, and is considered threatening, though less bloodthirsty and less specifically dangerous than the Krasue.

Profile: Phi Krahang

The most important aspects of the flying rice-sieve man at a glance.

Cultural Context

A fixed part of rural Thai spirit belief, understood as the male counterpart to the Krasue.

Relates To

Night walkers and the village surroundings, through which the Phi Krahang travels on his nightly flight.

Depiction

Bare-chested man in a loincloth with two rice sieves as wings and a rice pestle as a mount, sometimes with a hidden tail.

Sphere of Influence

A nightly threat to the village surroundings, though classed as less bloodthirsty and less specifically dangerous than the Krasue.

Approach

Amulets, sak yant tattoos, monks’ blessings and protective formulas, as well as folk vigilance at night.

The female Krasue as the direct counterpart, along with the village spirits Phi Am and Phi Tai Hong.

Failed magic and the flight on sieve and pestle

The name Phi Krahang combines phi, spirit, with krahang and denotes the male counterpart to the Krasue. According to tradition, a man becomes this spirit if he failed to master black magic or broke a vow to his sorcery master; some versions additionally give him a stunted, hidden tail as a sign of the failed transformation.

As means of flight, he uses two large round rice sieves as wings and a long wooden rice pestle to ride, with which he rises over the village surroundings at night. The choice of precisely these everyday objects of rice farming firmly anchors the Phi Krahang in the rural way of life: his core image is not that of a foreign monster, but that of a tool turning against its own owner.

From village belief to the screen

The Phi Krahang is a popular folk figure in Thai films, in the folklore series about the spirits of the three seasons, and even in advertising. He is firmly anchored in rural spirit belief.

From a religious-studies perspective, the Phi Krahang embodies failure at black magic and the breaking of a vow to a sorcery master, placed within the karma and magic logic of the Thai worldview. He forms the male counterpart in the Krasue-Krahang pair of Thai village spirits.

Amulets, blessings and nightly vigilance

As is common throughout Thailand, amulets and Sak Yant tattoos are considered protection against the Phi Krahang. Holy water blessed by monks is regarded as a sign against the cursed being, along with monks’ blessings, protective formulas and burning incense. Added to this is folk vigilance: those out at night keep watch for the flying figure over the surrounding village.

The female Krasue and other sorcerer spirits

Its direct counterpart is the female Krasue, whose nightly roaming grounds overlap with those of the Phi Krahang. As a flying sorcerer transformed by failed magic, it is structurally related to other witch and magician spirits of Southeast Asia. Within rural Thai spirit belief, it stands alongside the village spirits Phi Am and Phi Tai Hong, while the famous Mae Nak stands apart as her own Thai spirit tradition, tied to a single tale.

Frequently asked questions about the Phi Krahang

Is Phi Krahang the male counterpart to the Krasue?

Yes, this is how it is traditionally understood in Thai tradition, although their roaming grounds only overlap and it is considered less dangerous.

How does it fly?

With two large rice winnowing baskets as wings and a long wooden rice pestle, which it uses as a mount.

How does one become a Phi Krahang?

According to tradition, through failed black magic or breaking a vow to one’s own magic master.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As a flying rice-sieve man and the male counterpart of Krasue, the Phi Krahang remains a distinctive flying figure of Thai spirit belief: by day an unremarkable villager, by night a being made of two sieves and a pestle.