Joss paper

Today we visited a store in Hong Kong that sold Joss paper (also known as ghost money) and other contemporary/westernized varieties of Joss paper that included paper currency, gambling coins, as well as paper clothes, houses, cars, toiletries, electronics and etc. Joss paper are sheets of paper and/or paper-crafts made into burnt offerings which are common in various Asian religious practices including theveneration of the deceased on holidays and special occasions. Joss paper, as well as other paper items, are also burned in various Asian funerals, to ensure that the spirit of the deceased has lots of good things in the afterlife. Spirit money is most often used for venerating those departed but has also been known to be used for other purposes such as a gift from a groom's family to the bride's ancestors. Spirit money has been said to have been given for the purpose of enabling their deceased family members to have all they will need or want in the afterlife. Venerating the ancestors is based on the belief that the spirits of the dead continue to dwell in the natural world and have the power to influence the fortune and fate of the living. I bought Joss paper poker chips for my Uncle and Aunt who both died a year and a half ago. I think I will burn them on their Death Days! J Here is a link to an article about Joss paper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_paper