kheud 

 

Origin

 

kheud (ขด) is a Northern Thai (Lanna) word meaning inauspicious, bad, unlucky, or bringing misfortune.

 

It's a word you'll typically hear when elderly people use it to forbid certain actions that they view as potentially harmful or bringing bad luck. When asked for the reason behind such prohibitions, sometimes the only answer you might get is "It's kheud, don't do it" (meaning it's unlucky/inauspicious, don't do it). However, there are books and websites that have compiled various actions considered kheud such as the book "Kheud: Prohibitions in Lanna."

 

 

 

Context

 

kheud appears to be a word that emerged to regulate social behaviour in the past, establishing social norms covering both personal and public matters. Actions considered kheud include: filling in rivers and canals, cutting down Bodhi trees, changing public pathways, sitting on the top of stairs, washing women's traditional skirts (sin) with men's clothes, or singing in the kitchen etc.

 

The consequences of "tok kheud" (ตก ขด – falling into kheud) are believed to bring misfortune. For example, when the ancient pagoda at Wat Sri Suphan in Chiang Mai collapsed in 2022, people believed someone must have done something wrong to cause this kheud. The temple performed a "thon kheud" (ถอน ขด – countering the kheud) ceremony to remedy the potential misfortune.

 

Another example would be when event organisers prepare thoroughly but unexpected heavy rain occurs before opening - this is also considered "tok kheud".

 

The reason for including this word in the dictionary is because I started hearing it after moving to study at a university in a larger province. Before that, I rarely heard it since my family didn't strictly follow traditional beliefs or customs. Initially when I heard it, it seemed like an irrational belief, perhaps because when someone warned about something, they would only say "it will be kheud" without explaining why. However, as I became more familiar with the word, I began to see certain wisdom in it, such as how it regulated community behaviour when using shared public resources like water, pathways, and construction.

 

In one sense, I feel that the nature of actions considered kheud has gradually changed with social evolution. For example, nowadays, washing women's traditional skirts with men's clothes probably isn't considered kheud anymore. However, some actions like filling in rivers or water wells might still be considered kheud. I think this word documents social changes in its own way, which is why I included it in this dictionary.

 

Regarding performances, while there aren't any that specifically connect to this word, sometimes when doing contemporary performance work, there can be elements that border on kheud, especially regarding space and gender roles.

 

 

 

The closest thing to kheud was a duo performance called "Displacement" with Dujdao Vadhanapakorn, where we intentionally placed everything where it shouldn't be to reflect feelings of alienation. The performance was divided into four segments that could be reordered based on audience choice. We planted real grass in the performance space and used a large staircase that took up one-third of the performance area, which was about the size of a small office.

 

 

During the first performance, I, who was both a co-creator and performer, had an accident where my head hit part of the staircase, resulting in a wound that required three stitches and prevented me from continuing the performance. Someone else had to replace me. This incident could be called "tok kheud" (falling into kheud) I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but thinking about it scientifically, the lighting wasn't adequate, and the staircase was too large for the performance space, making accidents like this possible when moving around in that area.