ROI ET — A 77-year-old woman’s banana tree with an unusually ample supply of bananas has drawn worshippers hoping for some good luck.
Hours before winning national lottery numbers would be announced, people have gathered around a banana tree owned by Soontorn Saichue on Thursday morning in Roi Et province seeking better fortune.
“I’ll never cut it down,” Soontorn said. “It brings luck to my family. Since the banana tree started bearing fruit, my health has improved and I’ve never gotten sick. I feel as healthy as a young lady.”
Some offered the auspicious banana tree incense and flowers. Others wai-ed and prostrated, while others ran their hands over the nubs of the nascent bananas in search of numerological guidance.
Popular numbers gleaned from the tree included: 77 (Soontorn’s age), 33 (her house number) and 172 (the anticipated number of hands of bananas the tree will produce).
It’s no ordinary banana tree. The species of Set Tee Roi Whee Pun Loog, or Hundred Hands, Thousand Fruits Millionaire, banana tree has a two-meter bunch of bananas hanging from the stalk.
Soontorn said the lucky, two-year-old tree, bore hundreds of baby bananas just recently. She said neighbors who tried to plant offshoots of the lucky tree in their own yards failed.
Online, however, Thai netizens have responded with mixed reactions.
“Here they go again. Some experts should come out and say that it’s just typical of a species of banana tree,” Facebook User Aekkarin Muangthong wrote before giving in to his natural curiosity. “Anyway, what numbers did they get from the tree?”
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