Customs
Despite looking like play money, hell bank notes are taken seriously by many people. There are several customs and taboos regarding their proper usage.
It is highly offensive in all Chinese communities to give a hell bank note to a living person as a gift. When burning the notes, the notes are placed as a loose bundle, in a manner considered respectful. Alternatively, in some customs, each bank note may be folded in a specific way before being tossed into the fire because of the belief that burning real money brings bad luck.
While the custom of burning hell bank notes is legal and still commonly practiced in China, other burnt paper offerings for the deceased, which include "luxury villas, sedan cars, mistresses and other messy sacrificial items...", will, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, be subject to a ban from 2006 onwards, said to be a feudal superstition.
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Famous quotes containing the word customs:
“Thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. Our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin. The true woman is as yet a dream of the future. A just government, a humane religion, a pure social life await her coming.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“Change often makes accepted customs into crimes.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)