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was held by the eldest daughter. The spirit had to pay spirit money and cross the 'demon gate barrier'. Six weeks after death the 'gold and silver bridges' spanning rapids and whirlpools, with enormous snakes in the water, had to be crossed. The deceased was placed on a pair of scales. The good person is 'as light as air': the sinner 'weighs the balance down'. While all this was staged the son-in-law held a lantern and a granddaughter fingered her Buddhist prayer beads. All the time mantras were chanted, cymbals clashed and a flute was played. There was a paper bath house: the dead woman's spirit entered: the second daughter went through the motions of bathing her. This whole charade lasted about 20 minutes.
At seven o'clock everyone went up to the roof to burn the addressed, paper trunks, containing paper money, in a steel incinerator. 'Good' and 'silver bars' were also sent to long dead relatives. In addition effigies, made of coloured paper and cardboard stretched on bamboo or rattan frames, of a maid, a driver, a car (with lucky registration number 888), a house and furniture, and little black mourning strips which had been pinned on jackets, were burned. The names and messages of all donors were also burned so the dead person would know who had sent her presents. A Japanese business associate of the eldest daughter donated $1,000 'condolence money' (##) to purchase offerings. In 1988 an ordinary paper car was $350-1500, a Rolls Royce $2,000 and gold and silver bridges $500 each. A television set cost $100. It takes about two days to make a paper car. The middle-aged and elderly craftsmen who made them had served apprenticeships.
A young Chinese friend of the deceased had sent her a doll from Canada two years earlier. She had become very fond of this. It was therefore burned and ‘dispatched' to her. But the donor telephoned from Canada to say the deceased had asked her in a dream, days after the doll had actually been burned, for it to be 'sent'. Everyone wondered what had gone wrong with communications.
This custom of burning offerings stems from earlier times when live slaves (later terra cotta warriors replaced them), sets of household utensils and elaborate paraphernalia were buried in tombs to ‘serve' the dead.
In this study, at the end of this fifth tsat, all immediate family members kowtowed three times and received lucky packages. The picture of the deceased's mother, who had died earlier in Canton, was also placed in
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was held by the eldest daughter. The spirit had to pay spirit money and cross the 'demon gate barrier'. Six weeks after death the 'gold and silver bridges' spanning rapids and whirlpools, with enormous snakes in the water, had to be crossed. The deceased was placed on a pair of scales. The good person is 'as light as air': the sinner 'weighs the balance down'. While all this was staged the son-in-law held a lantern and a granddaughter fingered her Buddhist prayer beads. All the time mantras were chanted, cymbals clashed and a flute was played. There was a paper bath house: the dead woman's spirit entered: the second daughter went through the motions of bathing her. This whole charade lasted about 20 minutes.
At seven o'clock everyone went up to the roof to burn the addressed, paper trunks, containing paper money, in a steel incinerator. 'Good' and 'silver bars' were also sent to long dead relatives. In addition effigies, made of coloured paper and cardboard stretched on bamboo or rattan frames. of a maid, a driver, a car (with lucky registration number 888), a house and furniture, and little black mourning strips which had been pinned on jackets, were burned. The names and messages of all doners were also burned so the dead person would know who had sent her presents. A Japanese business associate of the eldest daughter donated $1,000 'condolence money' (##) to purchase offerings. In 1988 an ordinany paper car was $350-1500, a Rolls Royee $2,000 and gold and silver bridges $500 each. A television set cost $100. It takes about two days to make a paper car. The middle aged and elderly craftsmen who made them had served apprenticeships.“
A young Chinese friend of the deceased had sent her a doll from Canada two years earlier. She had become very fond of this. It was therefore burned and ‘dispatched' to her. But the donor telephoned from Canda to say the deceased had asked her in a dream, days after the doll had actually been burned, for it to be 'sent'. Everyone wondered what had gone wrong with communications.
This custom of burning offerings stems from earlier times when live slaves (later terra cotta warriors replaced them), sets of household utensils and elaborate paraphernalia were buried in tombs to ‘serve' the dead.
In this study, at the end of this fifth tsat, all immediate family members kowtowed three times and receive lucky packages. The picture ofthe deceased's mother, who had died earlier in Canton, was also placed in
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