Chinese New YEar 2007 continued

okay so even though this post is above the last post.. that sounded a bit stupid. anyway my point is that these photos were taken after the photos in the previous post =]

this is a table of offerings to the spirits of the land.. so i guess we're making offerings to some Aboriginal souls who used to live on our land a million years ago. hope they enjoy the hennessy lol. all these offerings can be found on the ancestral offering table as well. but they are separate. like its not the same chicken as was offered to the ancestors. thats a no-no. no double offering.. maybe its kinda like double-dipping..? chicken, fruits, sweets, coke, tea, henessy, a bun, some paper money and gold. set up in the backyard




remember the lovely arrangement of paper notes next to the watermelon? here we are. this is the burning of the paper money and gold/silver paper. every year its my job cause im such a pyromaniac. grandpa says the smoke carries the money and gold and silver to heaven or whereever the ancestors are. this year the notes in one packet were each worth 'ten tholswnd dolwrs' so i guess the ancestors will have to bank them at the bank of fob typos. or the bank of china's heaven branch.

it was so windy that day i was afraid i would burn down the backyard. and when i started burning the chek sek jua - seven coloured paper - the fire got bigger cause that stuff is so thin and flammable and i was like SHITSHITSHIT DONTBURNTHEBACKYARDDOWN. chek sek jua represents clothes for ancestors. it comes in a lovely range of seven different colours for the fashion-conscious ancestors to choose from. i smelt like burnt paper afterwards. mmm attractive.

these are offerings to the land spirit again i think. this time at the front of the house. but this is on the first day of the new year.. so last sunday 18/2. all other offerings (like the ones in the pictures above and below) must be made on new years eve or the closest day you can get without going into the new year. and no meat offerings are allowed on the first day (chiu ek)