Incense and Paper Kitchens

Decorations in the Square for
Mid-Autumn Festival

This weekend was big on burning.  Monday my roommate and I woke up to the smell of incense.  I opened my door and found the large bins that were typically in the garbage room out in the hallway.  They were on fire.  Rather, the contents were on fire.  This weekend was the Mid-Autumn festival.  It is a very fun holiday where you eat mooncake and pomello and go to look at the moon, because it's full.  People celebrate by getting lanterns and glowsticks and going to the parks in the dark.  It is actually quite fun to see the parks alive at night! 

The park at night full of people
enjoying the full moon!

But for the worshipers of the Chinese folk religion, it is much more.  There are gods that you must burn to to please them.  I see people burning incense and paper things to the gods all over.  They bow to the gods 3 times, make a wish, and then throw in their offerings.  There are burn bins outside workplaces too, including out on the street in front of our office building (not for us, of course...but for the other businesses).  There are gods for everything, and you burn things according to what god you're burning to.  For example, you would burn a kitchen for the kitchen god so that you have everything you need food-wise. (I just learned about that last night).

Mooncakes!

This is yet another example of the very prevalent hindrance to Christianity here: the religion is so tied to the festivals and traditions.  It's hard to get away from the spiritual side of the festivals if you have participated in the spiritual part of them your whole life.  Just like Christmas: it doesn't have to be celebrated as a religions holiday, even though it is religious at the core. (and we as Christians celebrate it religiously.)  But it would be strange for us to celebrate it without thought of Jesus.  It's the same here for every holiday.  They're times to worship the gods.  This is different than ancestor worship, by the way.  This is actually worshiping gods.

Pomello--like a large grapefruit but sweet

The pictures I have are from the non-religious part of the holiday, which I celebrated.  We just at mooncakes and pomello and walked in the park :)