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Burning Money My shopping jaunt had brought me to my favorite store, Fred Segals in Los Angeles. While I was in the gift department, I overhead a conversation of a couple that was examining these packets of beautiful colored paper. I realized it was joss paper that is used for burning on the Chinese New Year's. I was surprised to see that the store was selling the joss paper and asking ten times the amount that you would actually see it sold in Chinatown. (The paper is sold for fifty cents to a dollar and it was being sold for ten dollars.) I had just learned about joss paper a couple years ago during the preparations for my best friend's birthday party. We had decided that the theme for the installation would be a Chinese feeling with red throughout including everyone's wardrobe. The party was to be in a loft with twenty-one foot ceilings so we could plan very dramatic looks. We discussed doing a shrine for the entranceway, a Pee Wee room with big red dots everywhere, and a theatrical runway effect leading into the main room. While we were looking for decorative elements for the shrine in Chinatown, we came across an endless variety of colored papers in packets. The papers varied in design with screened prints of Buddha, emperors, and symbols of good health and prosperity. Most of the designs were screened on in red with gold metallic. A favorite was the silver stamped, square joss paper. The "Hell Money" was the most provocative, often resembling a big million-dollar bill with the picture of an emperor in the center and markings just like money on the front and back. The front was always in full color and the back was usually only in green. We asked every store owner for information on what the joss paper was for and the only translation that we could understand was that it was burned for New Year's. I asked a friend who is a little less westernized than myself and she told me it was burned for funerals, which immediately horrified all of us because we had already come up with the idea to hang these papers from the ceiling. On the Internet, we found that joss paper was created during a depression in China. When resources became scarce, paper became very valuable and was used to create art on. There were special joss papers for funerals that were cutout paper clothes and slippers with printed images of jewelry, accessories, shoes, and money. These papers were burnt to respectfully send off the dead. In August during the lunar moon a ceremony is done for the dead that were not blessed. These dead are allowed to come to Earth and create mischief. People burn the joss paper to fend off the dead and avoid mishaps. The beauty and history of the joss paper was an inspiration. We bought bags of the stuff and used it for the invitations. The joss paper was hung off the ceiling to form fluttering strands of shimmering color with metallic. The party was a spectacle and after the birthday celebration, the finale the next day was burning the joss paper to welcome our good fortune, health, love and friendships. By David Lee Dragon 88 used the joss paper images and texture as the wallpaper of the main pages of the site. |