For a pet (寵物衣包)
For a pet who has died, with their name on the bag. It isn't filial duty; it's a way of saying thank you.
To be honest: more people have started doing this in recent years; we found no classical basis for it, and it is not one of the three traditional kinds.
HK$638 per packet (about US$82) · Prepared, named and burned in Hong Kong.
Two photographs: your written packet and the batch before burning. Read what they show and their limits.
Order this packetWhat's in the bag
- Ingots (元寶)Gold and silver paper folded into boat shapes.
- Stream money (溪錢)White, and usually punched with holes.
- Rebirth money (往生錢)Paper printed with the 往生咒, a Buddhist chant. It's called “money”, but it isn't really money.
- Seven-character mantra sheet (七言咒) (illustration only)Generally a sheet printed with a Buddhist chant, burned along with the other paper money.
- Four kinds of spirit money (四款冥幣) (illustration only)Also called 陰司紙, and sold in English as hell bank notes. Generally printed to look like real banknotes, with enormous face values.
- Folded gold and silverThe gold and silver paper in the bag, already folded by hand, piece by piece.
- Nine-turn lotus flowers (九轉蓮花) (illustration only)There are nine small ones in the bag. A 九轉蓮花 is generally a lotus flower folded from paper; in Buddhism the lotus stands for purity. The pet packet has no clothes or shoes.
This is what our shop actually puts in the bag, as my sister describes it. It isn't a Hong Kong standard; every shop packs differently.
The explanations of the seven-character mantra sheet, the four kinds of spirit money and the 九轉蓮花 are what's generally said online, not my sister's words. Everything we found on the 九轉蓮花 comes from Taiwan. (Sources are in the articles.)
What we need from you
- Your pet's nameA nickname or an English name is fine.
- Your nameWritten on the bag as the 下款, the sender line that says who it's from.
On the bag it reads: top line (上款, who it's for) 往生寵物 XX, “to the departed pet XX”; sender line (下款, who it's from) 家人 XX 送, “from their family, XX”.
Chinese is the most common and the safest choice. But if you only have a romanised or English name, we can still do it.
Price and ordering
HK$638 (about US$82)
All four cost the same and are charged in Hong Kong dollars (HKD); the US figure is only approximate.
- On ordinary days, once your payment is confirmed, your packet is usually burned within three days (festivals excepted).
- Sending the form doesn't charge you anything. We email you how to pay, and we start writing your packet once your payment is confirmed. We don't give refunds, but the order can be moved and kept for a later date; it has to be burned within 12 months of ordering.
- If we write a name wrong or burn on the wrong day, tell us within 7 days of the photos going up and we'll redo one for free (section 9 of the terms).
During the trial (places in the trial are limited), trial orders work the other way round: we write and burn first, put both photos on your tracking page, and only then email you how to pay. Once the trial places are taken, we go back to the usual way.
We reply Monday to Sunday, 09:00–18:00 Hong Kong time (UTC+8), every day of the year.
Delivery photographs and their limits
You've paid, and there's nothing in your hands. So within 3 working days of the burning, we give you two photos:
- Your written packet: once your packet is written, we photograph it on its own. Your order number is written on the front of the bag, and you can see it in the photo.
- The whole batch: before burning, that day's packets are laid out together and photographed, either at the shop front or in front of the 化寶爐, the burner where offerings are burned. All the writing on every seal, order numbers included, is blurred. The blurring is done by hand, so something can be missed (see section 7 of the privacy policy). That's why you can't tell which packet is yours in this photo. What it shows is that the day's batch had been written and laid out together, ready to be taken to be burned.
