Sahachat Memorial

The Sahachat Memorial is a golden statue of a pig mounted on a large plinth along a busy Bangkok road. It was commissioned in 1913 by members of the royal family to celebrate the 50th birthday of Queen Sri Phatcharinthra, the Queen Mother of Thailand at the time.

To the uninitiated, Sahachat Memorial may come across as an odd monarchal monument. But it was inspired by the Thai Zodiac, as the queen was born in the Year of the Pig, and so were all the members of the royal family that commissioned it.

The Thai traditional calendar, Patithin Chanthrakhati, is based on lunar phases and is 543 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar. Although the Gregorian calendar has been the official calendar in Thailand since 1888, the traditional Thai calendar is still widely used by the Thai people. It is officially used for religious purposes like determining Buddhist holy days.

Nowadays, Sahachat Memorial has acquired a dual purpose, first as a shrine to commemorate the beloved queen, who died in 1919, and second as a place where people born in the Year of the Pig make offerings and gain merits.  In fact, the term Sahachat refers to people born in the Year of the Pig.

This golden pig statue is protected by a red and yellow sunshade, and it is always adorned with garlands of flowers and ceremonial stoles. At its base, people leave offerings in smaller statuettes of pigs, gold leaves, and other symbolic objects.

Update as of October 2023: The memorial was cleared of all the smaller statues, offerings, and flower garlands leaving just a few strings of beads around its neck. Due to exposure to the elements the gold color has mostly worn off leaving the pig a black color.