Ting Mong
These life-size dummies – a familiar sight in Cambodian gardens and front yards – look to all intents and purposes like what we’d call scarecrows. Yet, while the scare part is the same, the intended target is very different. The purpose of these Ting Mong, as they are called in Khmer, is indeed to scare away unwanted visitors but you’ll find them in front of houses, rather than cultivated fields, as the intention is to frighten away unwanted evil spirits rather than scavenging birds.
A particularly scary one near Prei Monti Harking back to animist times, a sickness afflicting a household or village was considered to be the result of the presence of bad spirits rather than viruses, bacteria or mosquitoes. If you wanted to avoid or preempt the problem then you needed to banish the cause – said spirits – so you’d create the scariest figure possible and place it in front of your dwelling. The theory being that any evil spirit would then think twice about crossing your threshold. Considerable time and effort had gone into fabricating the figures we photographed and, without diminishing the potential seriousness of whatever sickness had afflicted the village, it looks like it might have been quite good fun too. (Note, our ex-army buddy who accompanied us said the revolver in the feature picture was a real one. Clearly, messing with a neighbour’s ting mong is an absolute no-no and guaranteed to bring down the wrath of every evil spirit in the vicinity.)
They are still seen regularly in Cambodia – particularly in rural areas – and today would possibly indicate an outbreak of dengue fever or malaria for example, but with the current problem of COVID 19, the old ting mong or scarecrows have apparently – and predictably – made a strong comeback.
These ting mong photos however are old ones, taken a few years ago in Rolous Village near Siem Reap, as we’re currently unable to travel to Cambodia due precisely to COVID. The effort put into making them must have indicated a serious outbreak of something nasty. We’d imagine there are some spectacular examples to be found at present in remoter villages as the scarecrows are now perceived by some as an important weapon in the fight against the perfidious virus. (You’ll also see a lot of rather crude, simple ones consisting sometimes of perhaps just an old teddy bear with a motorcycle crash helmet on the top for example.)
Pat, hiding in the bushes Whether one puts it down to extremely effective scarecrows, diet, climate, sensible government policies or just pure chance, the country’s record in this respect is undeniably remarkable. Yes, we’ll accept limited testing and perhaps somewhat inaccurate statistics (which ones aren’t), but according to figures we’ve just checked, Cambodia stands at 124 confirmed cases and zero deaths. (Figures do of course vary.) (*)
So, if you’ve too much time on your hands during lockdown – you know what to do.
The above photos were taken near Prei Monti Temple, Rolous, Siem Reap on a cycling tour during a free afternoon on our Cambodia Overland tour.
(*) The photos date to 2006 with the post and figures from early on in the pandemic in May 2020.
