Chinese fortune sticks

Flat sticks used in Chinese shrines and Thai temples to tell one's fortune. The sticks are kept in a –usually red– cylindrical container and each stick has a number written on it that correspondents with a numbered horoscope-like leaflet that tells your luck for the future (fig.). Both the sticks and container are generally made of bamboo or wood. Players will sit on their knees holding the container with both hands, shaking it until just one stick drops out. In Wat Maniwong, in Nakhon Nayok (fig.), visitors can shake a giant cylindrical container filled with large sticks that measure a length of well over a metre, which gives participants more sanook (fig.). In Thai, they are called siamsih and in Mandarin qiuqian. See also krabok and krab. 回