Joss paper is paper made to be burned as an offering. Burning it is believed to send it on: to the deities as a gift of respect, or to ancestors and wandering spirits as money and goods for the afterlife. In Singapore you will see it at funeral wakes, at Qing Ming, throughout the seventh lunar month, and on the first and fifteenth of every lunar month at home altars and temples. In Chinese it is 纸钱 or 冥纸, and in Hokkien most people simply call it gold paper and silver paper.
This guide explains the main kinds, when each is used, and the etiquette families keep.
Gold paper and silver paper
The most important distinction is between gold and silver.
- Gold paper (金纸), with a square of gold foil, is offered to deities: the Jade Emperor, Guan Yin, the earth god Tua Pek Kong and the other gods of the household and temple. It is a gift of respect, not money for spending.
- Silver paper (银纸), with silver foil, is offered to ancestors and to the spirits of the dead.
The two are not mixed. Gold paper is not burned for ancestors, and silver paper is not offered to the gods. Within each kind there are many sizes and printed versions, and different dialect groups and temples have their own preferences, so it is worth asking the temple or the family elder which to use.
Other paper offerings
- Hell bank notes (冥币), printed like banknotes in large amounts, are a modern form of money for the ancestors.
- Paper replicas (纸扎) of houses, cars, clothes and everyday goods are burned at funerals so the deceased has them in the afterlife. Today they include phones, appliances and even holiday packages.
- Folded ingots: gold or silver paper folded into the shape of the old boat-shaped ingots, often by the family together, especially at wakes and at Qing Ming.
When joss paper is burned
- Funerals and wakes. Silver paper and paper replicas are burned during the wake and at the end of the funeral. Our guide to Chinese funeral customs explains the wake and the mourning days that follow.
- Qing Ming. Families burn silver paper and ingots at the grave or columbarium when they sweep the tombs. See Qing Ming Festival.
- The seventh lunar month. During Hungry Ghost Month, offerings are made along roadsides and in HDB estates for wandering spirits, especially on the fifteenth day.
- The first and fifteenth of each lunar month, at home altars and temples, usually gold paper for the household deities.
- Deity birthdays and the New Year. Gold paper is burned on the Jade Emperor’s birthday on the ninth day of the New Year, and at temple festivals through the year.
- Death anniversaries of parents and grandparents.
Burning joss paper in Singapore
In Singapore, joss paper should be burned only in proper burners. Town councils place metal burners in HDB estates during the seventh month, and temples and columbaria have their own furnaces. Burning on grass verges, on void deck floors or in drains is unsafe and causes complaints from neighbours, so use the burners provided.
Many temples and families now burn less than they once did, out of concern for air quality and the environment, and offer fewer, larger sheets instead of whole bags. That is a sensible change: the meaning lies in the offering, not the amount.
Etiquette families keep
- Fold or prepare the paper with care; it is an offering, not rubbish.
- Keep gold paper for deities and silver paper for ancestors and spirits.
- Let each batch burn completely before adding more, and do not leave a burner smouldering.
- Do not step over or kick offerings left at roadside burners during the seventh month, and do not take them.
- When burning for a particular ancestor, families often say the person’s name so the offering reaches the right person.
Joss paper belongs to the same family of customs as the everyday Chinese superstitions and courtesies: ways of showing care for the dead and respect for the gods. None of it is compulsory, and households keep as much or as little of it as feels right to them.