Burning Paper Money in Chinese Rituals and Festivals

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For this reasons they have several rituals and festivals where offerings are made to the local gods. In short, Chinese religion springs essentially from village and is a combination of sacrificial rituals, ancestor reverence and predictions (Lee, 1995). Chinese religion may appear rather strange to an outsider but to the followers, it offers rich spiritual experience. But since this religion is not one of the three revealed religions, the concept pf monotheism is missing from it and there are number of deities that are worshipped. However even more important than deity worshipping, it is ancestor worshipping which occupies the most pivotal position in religious rituals.

Clarke (2000) writes:

"Ritual in Chinese culture is usually equated with the term li, a term normally associated with and of central concern to Confucian scholars who regarded it as an essential element in the subjectification and creation of power relations between individuals in the formation of an ...

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It may appear strange but it is widely believed in Chinese religion that spirits need food and money in the world thereafter and their spirits can only be worshipped in this manner. However the spirits, which are not given any gifts, are hungry ghost that are not worshipped. People who don't make offerings, it is believed, expose themselves to the wrath of their ancestors.

"The Chinese also believe that the relationship between the dead and the living is continuous. Although the deceased is no longer on earth, they are alive in the after-life. The spirits of the deceased continue to live on, and the responsibility, of the living family members is to provide care. This is a part of the ...

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