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.