Mae_sue
Mae sue
Guardian spirit in Thai culture
Mae Sue (Thai: แม่ซื้อ) is the guardian goddess and female ghost of infants, one of the benevolent guardian spirits in Thai culture.[1] These female spirits are considered to protect whatever is related to their names. Mae Sue literally means Mother of Buying; when a baby is born it is believed that Mae Sue comes and buys the baby in order to keep it out of the reach of evil spirits. On the other hand, Mae Sue is also believed to be the cause of illness in children.[2]
Mae Sue is scarcely mentioned in literature and is mentioned only in a few works about Thailand. Author Lucien Hanks mentions the following local belief from a village she studied in the Central Plain: "The child is not fully human the first three days. This period was under the supernatural control of Mother Su, for babies never died during the first 3 days after birth."[3]
Different regions in Thailand have different views of Mae Sue.