Detailed Introduction
Before the furnace, sheet after sheet of paper money is fed into the fire, the flames lighting the faces around it -- one of the most emblematic sights on any Taiwanese temple plaza. Burning joss paper is a way of conveying the heart to gods and ancestors, and the one rule you must never get wrong lies in the single character's difference between "gold" and "silver."
Gold Paper vs. Silver Paper
The difference between gold and silver paper is the most basic, and most important, rule:
- Gold paper (gilded with gold foil) is strictly for the gods. Common kinds include "Tiangong Gold" (for the Jade Emperor, the highest grade, with the largest and finest foil), "Shou Gold" (for deities in general, the most used), "Yi Gold" (for general worship), "Fu Gold" (for the Earth God, small in denomination but full of sincerity), and "Pen Gold" (large denomination, for major ceremonies). Different deities take different grades, and the top-ranking Tiangong Gold must not be offered to ordinary deities.
- Silver paper (with silver foil) is for ancestors and the "good brothers" (wandering spirits). Common kinds include "Big Silver" (for ancestors, the larger grade), "Small Silver" (for the good brothers, the smallest), "Lotus Silver" (for delivering souls, often folded into lotuses), and "Rebirth Money" (printed with Buddhist scripture, for salvation). Silver paper must never be offered to the gods, nor gold paper to the good brothers -- one of the most basic taboos in Taiwanese folk belief.
How to Burn It, and What to Avoid
Burning gold paper usually comes as the last step of the whole worship. First fold each sheet in half (turning the flat paper into the shape of an ingot), then place it reverently into the furnace to burn. A few key points:
- The order is gold first, then silver -- and gold and silver must never be burned together; mixing them is thought disrespectful to both gods and ancestors.
- Don't tread on scattered ash while it burns, and don't leave partway through; wait until the money has burned completely.
- Don't toss the paper in carelessly or leave it half-burned -- both are seen as irreverent to the gods.
- Some worshippers write their name on the paper, so the gods or ancestors know whose offering it is.
Special Papers and Foldings
- Treasury-Replenishing Gold: burned to replenish one's personal "wealth treasury," often at wealth-god temples. Some temples add a written "petition" (shuwen) to burn alongside, stating the reason and the wish.
- Tai Sui Gold: burned when you clash with Tai Sui, to pray for calamity to disperse and a safe passage through the year.
- Rebirth Lotus: silver paper folded sheet by sheet into a lotus, the most heartfelt way to deliver the departed. Folding lotuses is painstaking work -- each bloom takes a dozen or more sheets, layered up, symbolizing new life for the departed upon the lotus. At Taiwanese funerals, family and friends often sit together folding lotuses, a way of both mourning the dead and mending their own grief.
The Modern Green Trend
As environmental awareness has grown, many temples now offer alternatives:
- "Rice for Gold": putting the money you'd have spent on paper toward rice donated to social-welfare groups.
- "Merit for Gold": donating to good causes instead of burning, dedicating the merit to gods or ancestors.
- "Reduced Burning": burning only a small amount of paper as a token of the heart.
- Xingtian Temple went furthest, becoming the first to ban joss-paper burning outright in favor of "joined palms, sincere heart."
- Some temples have installed "eco furnaces" fitted with air filtration and ash collection to lessen the impact.
More and more people accept that "sincerity brings a response" -- what matters is the respect and the heart, not how much paper is burned. This old tradition is slowly finding a new balance between the environment and faith.