Burning Joss Paper

The Vietnamese tradition of burning paper, known as burning joss paper or votive paper, involves offering symbolic items like money, goods, and personal belongings to the deceased ancestors and gods. The practice stems from the belief that the afterlife resembles the world of the living, allowing descendants to send essential items and show gratitude to their departed relatives. Burning occurs during important festivals like Lunar New Year (Tết), death anniversaries, and Ghost Month, with the goal of ensuring ancestors' well-being and bringing good fortune and blessings to the living family.
Origins and Beliefs
Afterlife as a Parallel World:
A core belief is that ancestors and deities exist in an afterlife similar to the living world, requiring material possessions.
Gratitude and Blessing:
The ritual serves as an act of deep gratitude and a way to please the ancestors and gods, hoping they will offer blessings and protection.
Connection Between Worlds:
Burning paper acts as a conduit, allowing the living to transfer symbolic wealth and goods to the deceased, thereby maintaining a connection between the two realms.
Occasions for Burning Paper
Lunar New Year (Tết):
A significant period where families invite ancestors to celebrate the holiday and then bid them farewell, burning paper offerings as they depart.
Death Anniversaries:
Special rituals are performed on specific anniversaries to provide for the deceased.
Ghost Month:
On the full moon of the seventh lunar month, people burn paper to appease hungry spirits and wandering souls.
Monthly Rituals:
On the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month, "spirit money" or "hell money" is burned as a regular "top-up" for the deceased.
The Nature of the Offerings
Symbolic Wealth:
Jots paper money, often called "hell money," is burned to provide wealth for the dead.
Personal Items:
Other offerings include paper replicas of houses, cars, clothes, shoes, and even modern gadgets like iPhones, which are burned to represent gifts for the ancestors.
Modern Context and Environmental Concerns
Environmental Impact:
The large-scale burning of paper offerings has raised significant environmental concerns due to the release of toxic fumes and heavy metals.Leia mais