Also called เจิมรถ, Jerm rot, Car anointing, Yant on the car ceiling
In Thailand a monk blesses a newly bought car by chanting, sprinkling lustral water and drawing a protective yantra in white paste on the ceiling above the driver. A jasmine garland is hung from the mirror for the journey spirit Mae Yanang.
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Take care: Never leave candles or incense burning in or on the car. Keep marks and garlands off the windshield and out of the driver's line of sight. Treat monks with Thai etiquette: women should not touch a monk or hand objects directly to him.
Long before cars, Thai boat owners honored Mae Yanang, the female guardian of a vessel, with garlands on the bow. Drivers moved the custom to the car, hanging jasmine garlands on the mirror and on taxi dashboards. Garlands are sold at nearly every busy intersection in Bangkok for this reason.
Uses: Jasmine garland
Thai owners often add a custom shared with India: placing lemons under the tires and driving over them on the first outing. Thai writers describe it as a borrowed belief that blended into local practice from the era of carts and boats to brand-new cars.
When a monk is not available, some owners do a simple blessing themselves with a white-paste mark, incense and chanting, then visit a temple later. Motorist Thailand notes the rite is not required by law and changes nothing mechanical, but it remains important to many Thai drivers.
Thai Buddhism has long blended monastic chanting with protective diagrams called yantra (yan or sak yant in Thai), drawn on cloth, metal, skin or buildings. Monks draw them over doorways of new houses, and the car blessing carries the same idea into a new space. The ceiling over the driver is the highest point of the cabin, so the protective script sits above the occupants' heads, a position of respect in Thai custom.
The car rite, called jerem rot, became common as private car ownership grew in the late 20th century. It blends Buddhist chanting and lustral water with older spirit beliefs such as Mae Yanang, the guardian spirit of boats and vehicles. Taxi drivers in Bangkok often keep small altars on the dash with garlands, amulets and Buddha images. In January 2026 a candle left burning during a blessing set a car's front end on fire in Phetchabun, a reminder to keep flames outside.
In Japan new cars are taken to a shrine or temple to be purified by a priest, and drivers hang a kōtsū anzen (traffic safety) amulet or stick a sticker in the car. The amulet is renewed each year and the old one is returned to be burned.
A Catholic custom of sprinkling cars with holy water and praying for safe travel, usually held by parishes on or near St. Christopher's feast of July 25. Drivers often keep a St. Christopher medal on the dash, visor or key ring.
A Hindu blessing for a new vehicle, with a turmeric and kumkum mark on the hood, a broken coconut and lemons under the wheels, followed by a string of one lemon and seven green chilies hung from the bumper to turn away the evil eye.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
