Topic: Do you have this practice of gambling during one's wake - page 4. (Read 590 times)

This is being practiced in the Philipines and it is a tradition, a way to gather all your friends the best way to do is to play games or gamble for fun they need to have something to do during the wake the whole night, outside of the house there is gambling going on its for the benefit of the family the winner take a share of his winning and share it with the family and they donate it to the family to help shoulder the expenses.
It may look weird to some who do not understand how these things can be possible but every country has its ways of doing things so we should respect the tradition and how they carried it.

Well basically in some places, it's common to play games during funerals to support the grieving family. People contribute a fee to help cover expenses. Whether it's legal depends on local rules and traditions so it's good to keep things in line with what's accepted in your area. In my country, playing games during wakes and pitching in is a common thing and it's called sugalan. It's like a community way to help out the grieving family with expenses

For sure we are living on the same country or not since this kind of approach is something that been traditional mostly on southeast asian countries or i dont know if this one does exist on other countries as well but having this kind of culture on having that "tong" isnt really that bad. Actually when it comes to wake then i do really play out in together with some other relatives and friends. I dont mind much about on how much amount would be pooled as long this one could really be helping out into those family who do have such situation or problem considering that even burial expenses and other correlated things would really be something that would be talking about money. Unless if the said family is rich then they might not really have those tongs or whatsoever in those mourn moments.

Actually its not really that a bad thing to have on which we know that not all families are really that good status when it comes to money on which on the time that they would really be having this kind of conditions then they do take up some loan specially on burial expenses and other things. It might really not that big or depending on how many had been playing but at least those amounts would cover up something when it comes to those small expenses.If you are someone whose really that going into those wake and having that kind of consideration then you could always opt on giving
out directly on the affected family.

You are correct that this is a Spanish term about Head/tail but in the local game they uses 3 same coin so the flipping will be harder as you need to produce 3 same outcome(head/tails) in which sometimes taking long time before the result comes.

And correct maybe this is different from  your culture but in Asia specially in the Philippines ? this mostly taking place specially in poorer community/family that they need to gather extra funds(as it is expensive when someone passes away) so the tip from gamblers are very important in each mourning.

So strange to my knowledge. Is it that the gambling commission or the gambling sites accumulates your lost of stake while gambling and give it back to the gamblers families in returns? Or is it that the gambling extracts someone little funds out from your gambling funded wallet as a form of pension for expanded coverage during your Financial difficulties?
How is this considered being realistic? Although I am not in doubt but curious on the Possibilities.

Not familiar with this, never heard of it before I guess it's my first time and most people from Nigeria too.

here in my country there other cultural activities that happens during the wake but gambling is not one of them. although its peculiar to your country that is why culture is dynamic, but for my country we have different ethnic groups and different activities are conducted in each ethic. I can remember something I noticed while I was very much younger, where after about 4 days after the deceased has been buried the family will gather of a night and kinda stay up all night but I don't know what it is that we really do but I know we just stay discussing and somehow mere till next day.

Perhaps, it's common in some areas or countries but in the other countries, that is uncommon practical or don't have that traditions. I don't know if that is existed here but so far, i never met that traditions. Oh, perhaps I knew something that similar with the story. When someone died, many people comes and not sleep all night long just to sympathize with the family. Usually, they only sit and talk with each others remembering the old days with the person who died. But young people, perhaps 20+ will playing gambling just to pass the time. They do that to show their respect to the family and guard them until the ceremony is finish.

The word "Tong" is familiar to me, do you mean by "our country" here is Indonesia? If the answer is "Yes", I'm Indonesian too and this is the first time I have heard of this tradition, does this have anything to do with a particular religion or tribe?

It makes me confused because in our country gambling is completely prohibited, especially when gambling is done in the real life.

We have something similar to this in my traditions and is lega, but the timing differs from what you explained, in your own case, the game is organized during the mourning time, but mine is an organized game and there used to be time interval from when the bereaved family members approve for the game to be played.


In my region, only close friends of the deceased person will play the game to honor the departure of the friend and sometimes those friends are those in the age grade of the dead person, all bets and wins go to the family and the family has the responsibility to entertain the friend with foods and drinks during the game period of the game, its more or less a game festival for them

Talking about covering of expenses, is it that the wake keep game or gambling is meant to raise money for the bereaved family to sort their bills or what is it for?

This kind of gambling is still new to me and what I know about wake keep and burial is that the family take care of the expenses and the running cost till the days of the burial is over and what support given by friends and well wishers are not mandatory but an act of benevolence, solidarity and conscience.

This is the first time I've heard that there are people who participate in gambling at funerals. Here in my country I don't know if they do this kind of thing because I only went to one funeral, and at the funeral I went to I didn't see this kind of thing, but reading this thread and now that I know that this kind of thing exists , I'm wondering how people can concentrate when they play at a wake, because normally at wakes people are very sad, other people are crying, so I can't see this very sad scenario as being a good scenario to play, I wonder how people people react when they lose, because I really doubt that when they lose they celebrate defeat, so I suppose that when they lose they are sad because they lost money and that sadness of theirs will be seen by other people and as a consequence the sadness will spread

Many people who go to the wake cannot understand what is really happening during the wake, this is because those people who are attending the wake are not the ones who lost someone, which is why they do not understand the pain that is being felt that day. Even if they said that the money collected would be given for the funeral, honestly wouldn't it be easier for people, instead of playing, to take the money and donate it to the family that lost someone? because it seems to me that this would be a better option than people playing games at the wake, because there's no point in laughing during the wake and then crying. Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to face the problem head on and not hide. If the person is sad, wants to cry at the funeral, then that person should cry and not laugh to pretend that they are fine when they are not fine

Well that's my first time hearing about such thing in the world of gambling. I'm still doing my research about it and from the little I could gather, I really haven't heard of it in my country. If it were that popular, maybe it would be common amongst people in my country. Though it sounds like a nice Initiative to help the bereaved and provide them with little you can through gambling.

But not all countries will accept such practice. If an individual wishes to give money out to the bereaved then he should do it willingly and not through gambling.

I am from the Philippines but my family believes in a peaceful wake. So, my grandfather's wake was held in a chapel where relatives could go and just talk about things, chat, and have some little food.
But I do know about the gambling practices during one's wake which is most of the time held in the streets.
I played both card games and the "sakla" which is one of my favorite games although it's difficult to win because of the broad number of picks. I just love the way the dealer presents the card where there is almost like a drum roll every time he shows the next card. But, I have never seen a color game in a wake, most of the time only those two games, cards and "Sakla" or sometimes they play bingo especially if there are lots of women in the place.
It's understandable especially if the death was a surprise and the family was not prepared for whoever died, it's like a donation but in terms of people gambling in their place. This was a tradition so it will be difficult to just remove it, especially with lots of poor families here in our country.

I am basically familiar with playing cards and I love to play it. Although in our society it is illegal but more preferred to play cards through money in night shelter. I've lost a lot of money getting addicted, but now it's widely known. Generally gambling is a game that gamblers will definitely love to play and has various attractive offers.

This is also very common in my area. You will know eventually that there’s a wake when you see a long table outside the house that is used for gambling. I don’t know actually if the family of the deceased will still ask permission before allowing gambling, because I think gambling is already part of the tradition everytime there is a funeral reception. With that, the family will no longer mind who will watch over the body of the deceased since those close family and friends will be present from night to morning while gambling. I don’t know if other countries adapt the same tradition but if all countries will adapt this, the family of the deceased will be very thankful because the more gamblers will come, the bigger the tong will be which is a very big help already to the family of the wake.

Over here in Greece gambling is considered a serious sin by the church and given that mourning the dead is closely associated with religious practices, there is no tradition to gamble in mourning.

However there is also different cultures for different people. Not everyone is religious, but the issue here is if the deceased person also liked something, then his friends could create an event recreating a schene in his memory to pay respects. I have seen this quite frequently in African American culture for instance.

sorry to assume we have a similar tradition about death. i was just comparing cultures since our countries were under Spanish for centuries and we adopted some of theirs. while we also associate death with sadness and despair, we gamble in the wake for the people who attend the wake will last til morning and at the same time it generates funds for the family.

we do sympathize with the family of the dead. by attending his wake, is enough of a message that a person remembers when he was still alive.

We share same culture probably we are in same country. The only time I participate on this kind of gambling games is on game called “tirimbi” or a version roulette like game but doesn’t have a roulette but rather winner is drawn using piece of paper rolled in the box. The payout system and betting type is just like roulette that’s why I compared it to that game despite without the real roulette involved. This game is played by many at the same time which is why I can place some bet for fun because my identity of betting is not that exposed.

Gambling in our country is not that widely accepted that’s why I never play card games in public like wake of relatives since I will receive criticism from my family or close relatives.

Well, I don't know the part of the world you are from but I think this is the freakiest thing I've read on the internet today.
Now, don't misunderstand or misquote me, I absolutely and completely respect your tradition, but then, also understand that such thing as gambling in a dead person's wake-keeping when the family of such person are morning their lost loved one, would for sure; appear or sound really inhuman for some of us who are not used to such tradition and possibly learning about this for the first time.

And I still find something confusing which I wanna ask, you said this games are played as a way to assist the bereaved family with some the expenses involved with laying their dead to rest, how is this done exactly, is it that the players of this games donate every of their winnings to the bereaved family as a way of supporting them?
Sorry if my question sounds too lame, I completely didn't get that part you said the game are meant to support the morning family, so, I am honestly trying to understand how this is done.

Yeah I just happened to pass by on one's wake with people doing cards, it's pretty normal in our country it's a way to stay awake and bear with the family throughout the whole night and since gambling is legal in my country they do this and part of the profit go to the family, its family tradition, majority of the family have done this and the authorities do not forbid or restrict this tradition.
Although gambling and its legal people are not here to make money but to condole with the family it's part of the tradition that will linger on as long as no law forbids this tradition.