Tamboon - Two days in Nang Rong

Maliwan's Dad carries the Buddha

Several months ago Maliwan told me that her mother wanted us to tamboon in Nang Rong; after some time we learned that the dates would be October 30 and 31. I know little about Thai culture, but I do know that family is very important and a good Buddhist will tamboon. Maliwan asks very little of me, and her mother asks even less of us. I promised that we would go, and gentle reader we did.

Tamboon is festive!

Tamboon is a Buddhist thing. My Thai / English dictionary defines the term as “make merit”. The principle of karma is deeply imbedded in this religion. In Texas we just say that what goes around comes around and don’t be surprised if it gains both speed and girth on the back stretch. It seems there are endless ways to tamboon; do something good, give your time, give your money, help someone. I’ve seen tamboon at temples in several formats, all different and all with a festive tone. These events are usually sponsored by the temple and have some specific fund raising goal. This tamboon was organized by the several villages around the temple; the funds raised will go to the construction of a new gate.


Monk at the Temple

Day One! I asked why two days of tamboon. The response from Maliwan was day one is “warm up”. O.K. I’m thinking, what does warm up mean, when the term is applied to tamboon? Would prepare be a better choice of words? (I’ve come to love some of the language nuances I here from Maliwan, and from other Thai people). Well, each family has a designated organizer who hosts day one. Family members bring their offerings and gifts. Everyone assembled at the home of one of Maliwan’s maternal aunts. The atmosphere was festive, with multiple offers for food and drink. The center of the gifts was what I call the money tree. Warm up, in this case, is getting to see family from out of town, collecting and organizing the family offering for the next day. It was really very enjoyable.



The family offerings, getting ready

Day Two! I was at the temple by 09:00 and enjoyed watching several other family groups dancing their way onto the temple grounds. Also, I note that many people brought food and refreshments as part of their tamboon. These were available gratis to all who came to the temple. I did learn that if you partake of this food you must eat it all, otherwise it would be very bad form to waste a part of their offering. Frankly some of it was prepared way ahead of time, not fresh and not very tasty. I’ve learned to take very small portions of the unknown so consumption wasn’t a problem. I should also mention that much of the food was truly delicious, especially this amazing corn pudding; something I’ll keep an eye out for in the future!

Food stands by the people, for the people.

 There is a very strong Cambodian influence in the Nang Rong area. The architecture of the temple shows the Khmer influence integrated with current Thai thinking of what a temple ought to look like. I thought it a bit amazing when a few of the monks asked me if I could speak any Thai. I told them “nit noi”, just a little. The next question was did I speak any Cambodian. That just got a blank stare and then a chuckle.

The temple



Our family group arrived last. Most were dancing their way along the road. The elderly and the babies rode, Maliwan’s parents included. The first image above is Maliwan’s dad carrying the Buddha statue. I just love this image. He was actually very relaxed and jovial till I made it clear I wanted a photo. He immediately assumed this reverent pose; it made a great shot especially considering the fact that he was a monk for over 5 years. (That, dear reader is a whole other story).

Elder aunt arrives with children looking on

The parade crowd

After everyone arrived I counted 9 money trees and could have missed at least one. Everyone made a parade three time around the temple and back to the meeting hall where the gifts were given to the monks. Announcements acknowledging the generous people were made. The last one I hear put the total gate money at 237,400 baht. Keep in mind that these people are for the most part rural farmers who are in the midst of what will not be a good year as far as yield is concerned. For them to raise 237 thousand baht is quite an accomplishment and a testament to their priorities and sincerity. I look forward to seeing their new gate in the future.

Parade of money trees

All of the images from these two days can be seen at:  http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/Tamboon_20101031/  Enjoy.


Abundant Blessings,