Kratie villagers set scarecrows front homes following cholera outbreak
Hundreds of families, including those belonging to ethnic groups, in four villages in Kratie province’s Chitr Borei district have erected ting mong figures in front of their houses to drive away the evil spirits they believe brought cholera after residents fell sick.
The human-like figures, said to originate in pre-Buddhist animist belief, were put up in Kou Lorb commune’s Banteay, Samrith, Kambor and Kou Lorb villages.
Yin Srin, a Kou Lorb resident, said erecting a ting mong in front of houses is a practice villagers carried out whenever many people fell sick unusually.
“In any year that a lot of villagers unusually fell sick, they become scared and superstitiously put up ting mong to protect themselves. There were three to four family members getting sick per house, so they put up ting mong,” she said.
Chhun Sros, another resident, said although his family thought it strange that his children and grandchildren had fallen sick with fever, diarrhoea and sore throats, he had not erected a ting mong as he believed the illness resulted from the recent extremely hot weather.
“Many villagers became sick. Some had dengue fever. Some who had diarrhoea were said to have cholera, whereas they had in fact eaten something bad."