Ceremony for the new house

In Thailand it customary, on the occasion of building a new house, to organise a celebration on an ‘auspicious’ day, with a ceremony and, of course, a big party. The preparations for this ‘tambun khun ban’ take quite some doing; they are a matter for the entire family (and friends): many people come and help prepare everything.

In the living room, carpets are laid on the floor, along with cushions for the monks (five in our case). A pyramidal structure, with three ‘legs’ is erected, made from banana tree trunks, bamboo trunks and bamboo sticks; those are decorated with silver and gold coloured paper, paper flags in different colours, flowers, candles and also with folded leaves with a piece of betel nut (a kind of nut that is chewed as a kind of soft drug, especially in Burma and by the hill tribes). At the foot of the legs a hand of bananas and a few coconuts are placed, along with a clay pot with both untreated and polished rice. Those two kinds of rice are also put on a dish. Kan and I were to sit under this pyramid during the ritual itself. Around the pyramid, there are dishes with all kinds of fruit and sweets, the traditional orange buckets filled with all kinds of domestic things, food and drink that will serve as offerings for the monks. Plastic bags with more food and drink are tied to the buckets. One of the dishes on the floor is filled with sweets mixed with coins wrapped in paper.

On a side table, there is a Buddha figure with candles and small vases on either side. From the Buddha figure, a white cotton thread (used traditionally by Buddhist monks in many ceremonies) goes around the entire outside of the house. At the four corners of the house, a basket is placed, made from banana leaves and bark; the basket contains fruit, rice, a piece of meat, a plastic bag with water, rice, sweets wrapped in banana leaves and candles.   

On the day of the ‘tambun’ itself, Kan and I went outside when the monks arrived, and at each corner of the house kneeled down at the basket, lighting the candles while the monks chanted a prayer; we received a blessing and the head monk extinguished the candles by sprinkling water on them. This ritual was repeated at the four corners of the house and once more inside, at the door of one of the rooms. Then the monks sat down on the cushions provided for them, and we kneeled under the pyramid. A long prayer was chanted by the monks (from memory); meanwhile, Kan and I got a white thread, linked to the pyramid, tied to our heads. Once in a while, the ‘ajarn’, a kind of theologian, or call him a master of ceremonies in this case, also said a prayer. In the living room itself, there were a number of guests, and all the others were outside, following the ceremony through speakers. In a second part of the ceremony, the head monk read a text from a folded manuscript (made from bamboo) that he had carefully removed from a cloth case. At fixed times during the ritual, Kan and I had to pour water slowly into a bowl – something a number of others in the living room did at the same time. After the text had been read out, we symbolically presented our offerings: first a dish with flowers to the Buddha figure, then the buckets to the monks. More prayers followed, with those present often joining in. Then the ‘ajarn’ tied a traditional (northern Thai) white cotton bracelet around our wrists. After a final blessing from the head monk – at several moments during the ceremony we had already been sprinkled generously with water – the ceremony was over. One of the people present took the dish with the sweets and coins and threw those into the room and into the crowd outside. The monks were then invited to sit at the table and eat; when they had finished, they said a prayer of thanks before leaving. 

Then, the ‘ordinary’ party started, with all the normal Thai elements: lots of food, lots of drink, and very loud music. Between 150 and 200 people came to the party, and they all had a good time.

Big 'tambun' celebration in a village in the Chiang Khong region

In Thailand, the concept of ‘tambun’ is an essential part of the Buddhist culture. The general meaning of ‘tambun’ is ‘doing good deeds, making merit’; this may take many forms, but is mainly the offering of food, drink or other things to monks or temple communities. This is a very normal, everyday habit, but occasionally there are special tambun celebrations during which the entire community of a village (or a neighbourhood in a city) makes a special effort and digs deep into their pockets.

Last week I had the privilege to attend such a celebration in Bunruang, a village in the Chiang Khong region, about 60 miles from Chiang Rai. We spent two days there: one for the preparations and one for the ceremony itself. Every family, couple, individual makes their own, beautifully decorated offering in the shape of a ‘tree’. This tree is usually made from rice stalks or reed, tied together in a tight sheaf that is split into three ‘legs’ at the bottom. Those legs are tied to a basket to form the foot of the tree.  This tree is wrapped with colourful paper fringes, and a number of bamboo sticks are also decorated like this. These stick are stuck into the tree, and all kinds of things are tied to the sticks with string: packets of noodles, coffee, biscuits, but also toothbrushes, soap, washing powder...; there’s no end to what you will find in some of the trees. Some of the sticks are also partly split before they are wrapped; these are used to hold money, and the stick are tied at the top with coloured paper again. Those ‘money sticks’ end up at the top of the tree. There are plenty of variations on these trees: everyone has their own individual style, and depending on the financial possibilities, the trees may grow fairly tall.

On the day of the actual ceremony, we were up and about before six, but that is late for the villagers – the local market starts at 4 a.m. All offerings were brought to the temple quite early; we went to the temple at six, and it was bustling with activity. There were hundreds and hundreds of those ‘trees’, and I noticed that there is also variation in the ‘trunks’: there were, for instance, smaller and larger banana trees that had been used as a basis, and there were trees hung with fresh vegetables or even dried fish. It was fascinating to see the effort that had clearly been put into making all the offerings. There were also very tall constructions. The trees were grouped into numbered ‘neighbourhoods’, and alongside the groups of trees of different families, there were usually a few people already waiting for the actual ceremony.

Shortly after eight we went back to the temple with the part of the family in whose house we were staying. We then waited until the start of the ceremony, around ten. In the main temple building, you could hear the chanting of the monks, but most people stayed outside with their trees. Around eleven, the prayers finished and the monks came outside.  A very chaotic search began (by the monks and their assistants) for specific trees of specific individuals or families; everyone who makes a tree also fills in a form that is taken to the temple the day before the ceremony. In principle, the monks come and collect every single tree, every single offering, say a prayer and give a blessing. When that has happened, the helpers pluck the tree bare very quickly and bung the contents into big sacks.

After about two hours of individual blessings, maybe half of the trees had vanished, but there were still hundreds left. Those were grouped by ‘neighbourhood’, and a general blessing was given for each of those groups. Then everyone went back home.

The entire ceremony was wonderful to participate in – a very colourful event with very enthusiastic participants.