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Paper & packetsWhat is joss paper, actually?Spirit money, hell money, ingots and the packet they go in — and why the whole thing works like posting a parcel rather than casting a spell.
Paper & packetsWhich joss paper offering do I need?Four recipients, not four price tiers. One question decides it, and two of the four need no names at all.
Living overseasAncestor worship at home, without an altarNo tablet, no censer, nowhere to burn incense. The full tradition, why placement has no single answer, and a version you can do tonight.
Paper & packetsI do not know my ancestors’ Chinese names. Can I still do this?Yes, and in two different ways. Most articles only give you the weaker one.
Paper & packetsWhat do you write on a joss paper packet?Three lines, and only one of them is about the person who died. Both accepted forms of the sender line, and what to do without Chinese.
Loss & remembranceCan you burn joss paper for a pet?People do it and shops sell it — and no text we could find provides for it. Where the practice came from, where Buddhist opinion splits, and what goes on the packet.
Living overseasIs it legal to burn joss paper where I live?We found no law naming joss paper in the places we checked. Four separate layers of rules decide it — and the second is the easiest to miss.
Living overseasCan I burn joss paper in an apartment or condo?Realistically no, for four reasons that apply before you reach the law. And no, the balcony does not fix it.
Living overseasWhere to buy joss paper outside AsiaThe words to search, a card of characters to show at the counter, and why the packet is the item you are least likely to find.
Festivals & grave visitsWhen to burn joss paper: the 2026–2027 datesTwenty occasions in one table, with lunar dates, weekdays, Hong Kong public holidays and how to convert to your own time zone.
Loss & remembranceWhat do you do on a Chinese death anniversary?The character 忌 means keeping the day quiet, not staging something. Six things, none compulsory — and what to do if you remembered late.
Festivals & grave visitsHungry Ghost Month, explainedGhost Festival, Zhongyuan, Ullambana, Pudu, the 14th, the 15th — three unrelated traditions landed on one date. With the 2026 and 2027 dates.
Festivals & grave visitsChung Yeung (Double Ninth) 2026Sunday 18 October 2026, then Friday 8 October 2027. The autumn half of a pair — and it did not start as a grave-sweeping day.
Living overseasQingming when you cannot visit the graveThe classical texts wrote the exemption themselves, and they are blunter about it than you would expect. Next falls 5 April 2027.
Festivals & grave visitsWhat do you say when burning joss paper?No set prayer. Two classical texts share a six-slot model, and plain words to the person already fill it.
Festivals & grave visitsDongzhi (winter solstice) 2026Tuesday 22 December 2026. An ancestor day kept entirely at home.
Loss & remembranceDreamt of a relative who died?Common in grief. We will not interpret the dream; five things you can do, one of them nothing.
Beliefs explainedIs burning joss paper superstition?For anyone who does not believe, but whose mother does.
Festivals & grave visitsChinese New Year’s Eve ancestor offeringFriday 5 February 2027: no 30th that year, so the Eve is the 29th. And how to time it from abroad.
Festivals & grave visitsDoes burning joss paper pollute the air?What studies measured, and three practical points from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan: burn less, use a proper burner, away from homes.
Loss & remembranceThe first Qingming after a deathWhy some families visit a new grave before the spring she day, and the 2027 dates (Hong Kong time).
Festivals & grave visitsFirst grave visit: what to bringPack practical supplies, agree on offerings with your family, and check the cemetery before travelling.
Beliefs explainedDo Buddhists burn joss paper?What Sheng Yen wrote, who disagrees, and what to do when the family is split.
Festivals & grave visitsCan you go early or late for Qingming or Chung Yeung?Most recorded windows are wide, but some customs set a deadline for new graves. And Hong Kong time vs yours.
Loss & remembranceThe 49 days, the 100 days and the first yearSeven sevens, the hundred days and the first anniversary: where they come from and where the sources disagree.
Loss & remembranceWhat are the funeral options in Hong Kong?Registering the death, the funeral, cremation, burial, green burial and online memorials, with links to each guide.
Loss & remembranceBurial in Hong KongPublic cemetery graves are not permanent: official rules, FEHD fees, what happens after six years, and what to ask overseas.
Loss & remembranceCan't fly back for the funeral?Livestreams, condolence money, a place at home, an online memorial, and what comes after.
Festivals & grave visitsCan you eat offerings after worship?The Book of Rites calls it the final part of the rite. Plus food safety, choosing fruit, and which hand holds incense.
Festivals & grave visitsMoving into a new home: bai sei gokA Hong Kong custom for moving house: what it is, how families differ, and what to ask your elders.
Festivals & grave visitsCan you worship or visit a grave on your period?Where the taboo comes from, what a Taiwan temple and Sheng Yen say, and how to talk it over with family.
Loss & remembranceAfter a death: weddings and New Year visitsWhere the 100-day and one-year customs come from, and how to ask or explain them kindly.
Loss & remembranceWhat to wear to a Chinese funeralAs a guest, as family, with children, and at services of different faiths.
Loss & remembranceCremation in Hong KongHow it is booked, official FEHD fees, where the ashes can go, and bringing ashes home from abroad.
Loss & remembranceAncestral tablets: moving or finding a homeThree practical options, what to check before moving, and where to ask about a tablet service.
Paper & packetsAll-beings offerings (十方眾生)All beings, street clothes, food-giving, Yu Lan: four names you will meet for one practice.
Paper & packetsWhat does 冤親債主 mean?Rendered karmic creditors, which drops the character that holds the whole term together.
Beliefs explainedChinese–English glossary of offering termsThe terms on this site with pinyin, each linked to the page that explains it — and a tag on which English wordings are only ours.
Paper & packetsCan someone else burn the offering for you?Yes, and the tradition already has a word for it. What is handed over, what stays with you, and the two things no service should be promising.
Paper & packetsHow do you check a joss paper service is real?Five checks you can run from another continent, three things you have to take on trust, and the red flags that are not actually red flags.
Paper & packetsHow a joss paper burning service works, step by stepWhat happens between paying and receiving photographs — and which photograph is the one that actually proves anything.
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