Tambourines
You hear the ภาษาไทย so often utter: 'tamboons'. As an outsider you often don't know the details. That's why I've delved a little deeper into this subject and tried to penetrate the souls of the Thai. Putting your personal thoughts aside is not always easy.
Temple as the center
It's all about the temple that, you can already fill it in, tries to recruit the necessary sponsors to donate money for the good cause: the Wat in the relevant residential area. It is an annual event in which the monks distribute stacks of envelopes in good time to a number of selected persons who ensure further distribution and consider it their task to collect them – filled of course – again. Only very rarely does someone refuse to give something, so 'tamboning' is ingrained in the Thai. In addition to the annual 'envelope trade', the Thai also donates a lot of money or goods on all kinds of occasions. Literally buckets full of all kinds of things are offered at the temple and the contents used for the benefit of, yes, whose? The monks determine that.
Prominent list
The annual envelopes are pre-printed with a list of all those who have previously donated at least 500 baht. These mild givers are mentioned by name on this list. The names of the 'prominents' who have contributed XNUMX or XNUMX baht are printed in bold on the list. I have only one word for it: …. no, I would put my personal thoughts aside. Do not discuss this with a Thai, because then you will go completely wrong. You 'tambot' and give money not for the monks but for the temple that means a lot in the life of the Thai. Don't even try to understand that, because you probably won't succeed anyway.
Bank holiday
The evening before the official day, there is a party around the Wat. It's a bit like a little funfair with throwing darts at balloons, with which you can win some stuffed animal. Stands with sweets and toys and even a real pancake maker fill the grounds. Furthermore, a large stage with very large loudspeakers that produce blazingly loud 'music'. The older ladies of the village have their feast tonight and dance in front of the stage to the music supplemented by a singer and two female singers. They hop around in a large circle in somewhat ridiculous clothing and move their hands to the beat of the music.
Every now and then someone on stage stirs his voice through the microphone. Give a Thai such a copy in his hands and you are assured of a lot of chatter for quite some time, which as an outsider you obviously cannot make ends meet. It's a party for the residents, and music and dancing make them happy.
Tambon Day
The day after the festive evening, the envelope collectors come to the temple complex where the envelopes are opened and the contents are deposited in large metal bowls under the approving eye of the monks. In the covered collection area, behind a long table, several men are sitting who do the administration and write down the generous donors. Every now and then one of them grabs the microphone and starts to rattle off the names of the donors and of course the tamboed amount.
The monks are in a good mood and have a chat left and right. Every now and then groups appear who carry a branch richly decorated with banknotes and deposit it at the appropriate place. Everyone sits on the floor, but a friendly monk points this farang to a few comfortable wooden chairs and benches. A little later I am joined by a few more people. Judging by their appearance and clothing, these are the notables of this living environment. For a moment it reminds me of my younger years when in the Netherlands the first pews in the church were also reserved for the more wealthy people and even their own name tag indicated this. Well, beliefs don't differ that much. In any case, not the image gallery, only the images are different, but the worship is the same. And there is only another word for tamboons in other parts of the world.
Festive procession
After the money has been counted, the head monk announces that the tamboeners have collectively raised an amount of more than three hundred thousand baht. Everyone looks around proudly and is happy. The money will be used for the expansion of the complex. Outside, a number of men beat the drums and the whole party goes out, taking with them the various bowls of money, the branches of banknotes and a few large umbrellas. They rally behind the drummers and then the procession moves towards the temple. Everyone is in a happy mood and it is more like a dancing procession than a walking procession. At the very front, a lady skips to the beat of the drums, who, waving a broom, wants to literally sweep away any evil spirits that may be present.
It is customary that the circle of the temple is completed three times. It is a pleasant spectacle and everyone is merry. Every now and then someone throws a number of coins between the group to loud cheers. They are coins of one baht, festively wrapped in a transparent piece of paper. The crowd is completely delighted and everyone tries to outwit a few lucky coins.
Finally
In fact, tamboing is over with this, but food also plays an important role with the Thai. Especially when you are together with so many. Large gamelles with soup, rice, meat and other foodstuffs are placed in a covered area. Everyone finds a place on the floor and takes another bite before returning home. Drink, at least alcoholic, is taboo in the temple. Then the crowd goes home in a good mood and a few ladies stay behind to clean up everything neatly. The annual big tambo day comes to an end.
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Alcohol is taboo in the temple. But Thailand wouldn't be Thailand if it wasn't for a pragmatic solution. For example, I once went to a monk initiation party, on temple grounds of course, where the whiskey was on the table in plastic ice tea bottles. And no one was surprised that the ice tea was always mixed with cola and soda.
Speaking of pragmatic solutions; I recently visited a football match and there all beer cans had to be exchanged at the entrance for a plastic bag with a straw into which the beer had to be poured. So no point anymore.
Incidentally, in certain bars a lady drink is also called 'boen'.
You can throw beer cans and glass bottles and injure people.
With a plastic bag you can only throw someone wet.
At open-air concerts, glass bottles are also often prohibited and the whiskey must be poured into a plastic bottle.
the word is actually Tham=do and BUN=good.
It is even more fun when the head abbot ”around 5.00 in the morning (because your monks get up early), the long list of generous donors starts to trumpet on an over-modulated gigantic loudspeaker. that's before the muslim minaret sends out their electronic calls.
But tham bun is all about generosity. Beggars (also lal are mafia imports from Cambodia), flood victims, and anyone who is even a little sad. This way the BKKers can once again show who has the real red heart??
Here in a prosperous area of BKK, in the morning you see the monks (led by a very old one - he is now in a wheelchair and is treated with enormous respect) doing their do good = tam bun collection round - with 3-4 helpers around the carts on which all offered goods come, then you sometimes wonder………….
Wonderful story Joseph. You describe it well and I can share your feelings about it. I have also experienced it several times and I know how my partner feels about it. For her it is about doing the right thing and thoughts such as those that occur to us and possibly discussing them are not an issue. In addition to these offerings, meals are also regularly prepared, which are given to the monks early in the morning and are consumed there together. And as you described about the church in the Netherlands. At the time (1965!!!!) my mother was furious with her parents, who owned a farm and left a large part of it to the church when they died. To reserve a nice place in heaven.
I have also had to experience the tamboing several times.
My wife is always appointed as chief collector (I prefer not to use another word) (because she is married to a farang?), and in that position she is supposed to put a decent amount in the envelope, and to distribute the envelopes sent to her among acquaintances and friends and then collect them again before we go to her native village to play tambo.
It annoys me sometimes when I think that often more pompous things are only added to the local wat for that money, instead of more being done for the poor buggers in the village.
But when I see her proudly with her well-filled money tree in the parade 3 times hopping around the wat and see how much satisfaction the Thais themselves experience
, I think to myself , let me not criticize too much if those people firmly believe that they are doing well with it.
And you said it yourself, not so long ago you had to pay a lot if you wanted a good seat in the church.
And all those beautiful Catholic churches, cathedrals, built with splendor, have been built with pennies and dimes from poor buggers.
And even more odious was that for a certain amount you could buy a number of days of "indulgence" from the priest, so that after your death you had to spend a little less time in purgatory.
The Thais do not believe in heavens, but the Buddhist variant on this is: "the more you tambo, the happier you will be in your next life".
Fortunately, the development (separation) started a bit earlier for us.
Leo Bosch
Early in the morning I sit on dongtan beach at Mem for over an hour. Have my dose of coffee for the day here and take some water to keep the body fluids up and let my mind blow through.
She (Mem) also often puts up a tree for Tambun and passes around with the envelopes at the beach bars. Once a year we are delighted in the morning with 9 monks who mumble their prayers for the beach boys/ladys and then enjoy an extensive meal. After consuming the monks we can also enjoy this..
Recently my payment for the coffee and water consumed was hung in the tree for more than 3 weeks. Because I was the first to pay.
Beach no 23 and 24 was closed for two days to hand over the good gifts to the temple.
Yes on Saturday and Sunday! (so not even used the free Wednesday)
Tambun is also organized here to bring money to the temple, so that beach boys / ladies who have practically no income can still receive a suitable ritual at the temple when they die.
So not only your own soul's salvation, but also someone else is taken care of.!
It all has more folklore than the obligatory payment to the church at the time, if you had declared your church faith to the municipality. Sometimes you didn't even know that because your parents had done that and getting rid of it was quite a challenge.
PS: Not only the full wages and pensions of the nearby spiritual shepherds – who, by the way, have no rule of poverty – are paid by atheists: also the even more generous of the hierarchical superiors living elsewhere in Belgium.
I have tried to explain to my wife how I feel about REGISTRATION of gifts.
There is nothing wrong with giving, as far as I'm concerned.
Only my point of view is: "Don't let your right hand know what the left gives"
So registration of donations, and large signs with how much that and that company or organization has given, is taboo for me.
Do it in the lee. Give to give, but not for the glory.
KhunBram.
Explain that to wealthy Americans. Just like with the Thai, they care about status, but in Thailand it is not limited to the very top layer. In the USA, a sound social system and health policy is thwarted by hiding behind a very demonstrative but deeply inadequate 'doing good'. In Thailand it is 'tham bien', although the temples sometimes do good social works with it, probably especially good for the monks. But becoming a monk is also a solution to social problems and monks don't die as rich as some American priests and their established Churches.
Moderator: please don't chat
I've seen the 'money tree' that's in my favorite pub in Pattaya picked up and disappeared in the passenger seat of a pickup truck. I had no idea what happened but at least now I have a suspicion.
And further? Well, it's just another way to get through 24 hours partying and eating and drinking. Just give me a VIP seat for ฿ 1000, then I have a good overview of what happens with my voluntary contribution. ☺
The separately organized occasions, the daily alms and the free monk transport cannot be seen separately from each other, nor can the multiplicity of monasteries. We incorrectly translate the Thai 'what' as 'temple': It is not just a place of worship but above all a community. Equally important is that it is close to the local lay population.
In Europe, aid recipients are sometimes treated with pity and treated as a profiteer and a nuisance. In the USA, someone who falls by the wayside is already lucky if he attracts any support. In Thailand, a less gifted person, an unlucky person, or someone who wants to get rid of an addiction can become a monk. This is very often the case in the local monastery. If necessary, the monk superior, after assessing with local knowledge of someone's person and circumstances, sends him on to a more suitable monastery. Social care is no exception.
The fact that an individual temple or a group of temples does not become very rich may not be so much due to ideological principles. Yet Thai temple groups do not compete to attract more resources, and they do not systematically play the wealthy such as Mormons and especially Scientology. Thus, 'doing good' continues from broad layers, benefiting very many local monastic communities.
The new monk immediately has free transport, the necessities to live on and - far preferable to European standards - the feeling of being part of a worthy group and individually he also experiences a genuinely very respectful attitude from outside. This compensates for the austere and disciplined living conditions. A monk who can and wants to stand (again) on his own two feet can respectfully disembark.
If I had to choose between being really poor in America, Europe, or Thailand…
Socially, the Thai monk system is probably more efficient than our social welfare state: Monastery buildings and their maintenance must be compared with those of numerous administrations and aid organizations. Thai monks are not hard-working toilers, but they do maintain their monasteries and manage their community themselves, with a minimum of government supervision. They live there so they don't contribute to commuting at peak hours. The number of truly capable workers that are withdrawn from society for social care to increase the general welfare is smaller: the old tradition makes it possible for a monastery to be properly managed by only a few moderately skilled people.
'Tham bun' is baked in for a reason or out of stupidity. We defend our social system, but that too is far from perfect and very expensive.
I thought Tamboen was a bit more than just raising money. We ourselves have had a house blessing, which is called Tamboen Baan. Yes, money was collected, but we actually received that again, so that our costs remained relatively limited.
Another Tamboen, when someone's son goes to the monastery for several weeks or months. There, too, a lot is spent and collected. Of course the monks get money, but that is little compared to what is brought in. Most of it flows back into the family cash register.
The Tamboens that are almost exclusively for the monastery are those where a fair - a large sales market is held. That is the attraction and the people then go around in the monastery, whereby the baht “flows”… and then you can decide for yourself how expensive or cheap it will be.
There are various forms in which the word tamboen can be freely translated as Tam (do) boen (good).
Often the financial contribution benefits the temple, for maintenance or necessary renovations, but also the morning giving of food to the monks, and the giving of utensils in the well-known Buckets, is a tamboon.
Also after 100 days of a deceased person, one speaks of tamboen (Poi khau sang)
Even when moving into a new house, as Sjaak also described this in his response, people speak of Tamboen Baan Mai (new house)
In short, Tamboen (Doing Good) knows almost no boundaries for the Thai, and is very resourceful.
Recently, the entire village went here with music and dance, and decorated money trees, which can differ per family in size and possibilities towards the temple.
Around the temple there was lavish eating and celebration, with the music being so loud that you certainly didn't tambo the drums of your ears.
As I experience the tambo it is a bit simpler. The family goes to the temple to give as it is expected to bring prosperity and prosperity. So a reciprocity.
Last Sunday I participated in a fishing competition in Northern Thailand. Quite an experience in itself. The catch was allowed to go home. The family was happy that lung Mark caught just over 20kg of freshwater fish. That catch will be culinary top.
It is a cheerful and jolly affair. Drinks and food are offered mobile with the saamlor at the fishing spot. The stake was 100 bath per rod and there were approximately 200 anglers. The main prize was a cash sum of 10.000 baht and there were several side prizes in kind. I won 6 vials of M100.
There is also heavy gambling, for a relatively large amount of money. Who catches the first fish? Price. Who will be the first to catch a fish of more than 1 kilo? From 2 kilos? From 3 kilos? And so on. Who will catch the first pla sawai? The first pla salamed? Is it like this all the time? A game without limits.
But about tambourine. A couple of anglers sitting further away were laughing loudly and laughing. They had been extra tambong the night before, wishing they would win the grand prize. Unfortunately, tamboing clearly does not help to catch more fish; thought this farrang.
But those Thais will tambo even more next time and then they will undoubtedly catch more and bigger fish and score that main prize. The Buddha in person will also watch over that 🙂
I enjoyed reading this.
As far as I'm concerned, more contributions may follow.