What are the Incense and Paper Packets For Sale for?

Sometimes in Chinatown, you may come across shops selling incense bundles and paper packets. Ever wonder what those are?

Wentworth Buddhist Supply on Jackson / Cross Ross Alley
courtesy author

This store is a "Buddhist Supply Store" (even though they serve Daoists as well), and they offer items needed to pay proper respect to our ancestors, as well as other traditional items for the practice of Buddism and Daoism.

The incense stick bundles, often called joss sticks (a pretty archaic term), are usually made of sandalwood, and are known as 檀香 (tang-xiang). They are burned as offerings and to aid communication with the spirits. They are also sometimes used to simply scent the room, or around Chinese New Year, as a way to light small firecrackers.

BONUS FACTOID: Honolulu's Chinese name is 檀香山, literally sandalwood mountain, because there used to be a lot of sandalwoods exported from Hawaii.

The white packets are offerings to ancestors and are paper offerings of clothes and other belongings, basically daily items, to be burned in a burner to show proper respect to one's ancestors.

This is a custom, not a religious observation. In fact, the Chinese have a special holiday for this, known as Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, Chinese Memorial Day, or Ancestors' Day. At that time, families are supposed to visit the tomb of their ancestors, to clean it, pay respect, and make some ritual offerings, which can include food offerings (which will be divided among family members after the ritual), and/or burning of joss sticks, joss paper, and the white "care packets" as mentioned above.

The store also sells small "shrines", that can be used to pay respect to the various minor deities around. Some businesses are known to put up a small shrine for Guangyu, for example. While others may put up a small shrine at ground level for Tudigong. You can also buy statues or figures of Buddha, Guanyin, or any of the other Buddhist deities, as well traditional Chinese deities such as the Eight Immortals, for your shrine or display.

Other things they sell would include incense holders of various sizes and shapes, candleholders, display stands, shrines of various sizes and shapes, including display cabinets (may include power strip for lights), and much more.

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