Burning votive paper is a beautiful spiritual culture
On the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, the custom of burning votive paper has been deeply rooted in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. However, to make this custom a cultural beauty, there must be specific regulations and standards in social activities, and more importantly, propaganda and education to help people understand this custom correctly, avoiding the purpose of profiteering that distorts the cultural beauty.
(Baonghean.vn) -On the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, the custom of burning votive paper has been deeply rooted in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. However, to make this custom a cultural beauty, there must be specific regulations and standards in social activities, and more importantly, propaganda and education to help people understand this custom correctly, avoiding the purpose of profiteering that distorts the cultural beauty.
Discussing this issue, Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao said: “The custom of burning votive paper originated in China, dating back to the Zhou Dynasty, when Confucius had a worship ceremony, however at that time it was only a ceremony of the heart without any offerings or food.
Since ancient times, the concept of “as is the living, so is the dead” has been formed in human life. People in coastal areas have a special faith in this custom, because of the uncertainty in their livelihood. On the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, coastal people often temporarily stop all work, they offer very large offerings of paper money, often carried out at sea to help the unfortunate, praying for calm seas and seasons of going out to sea. People believe that when a loved one passes away, they will be in great need and suffering in the underworld, so during the Tieu Tuong (first death anniversary) ceremony, the living must burn a lot of items, made of paper money, for the dead to become new ghosts, in addition to using them, they also give them to the old ghosts. On the first full moon day of the 7th lunar month when a loved one passes away, the family also offers a very large offering of paper money. However, during the Dai Tuong (end of difficult death anniversary) ceremony, it is only necessary to offer a moderate offering, enough for the family ghosts to use.
Nowadays, people tend to show their faith in an excessive way, every full moon day or New Year's day, people compete to burn votive papers. From that trend, commercialization inevitably occurs. The rich like to show off, merchants want to bribe the gods to buy and sell well, people who have made mistakes want to repent and atone for their mistakes to the gods in order to reduce their sins in life, causing distortions. For the custom of burning votive papers to remain a beautiful cultural feature, it requires enlightenment among the people and the example of cadres and party members..."
Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao is discussing the custom of burning votive paper.
Starting from the 5th day of the 7th lunar month, the market for votive offerings in Vinh market has been very busy, with more than 30 households selling these items and this is also the main market for retail markets in the province. The Vinh Market Management Board has almost devoted all its resources to fire prevention and fighting in the votive offering area. Talking to us, Mr. To Thanh Nhan - Head of the Vinh Market Management Board said: “Since July 5, in addition to propaganda work, we have arranged security forces to be on duty regularly, especially at noon when the hot weather is at high risk of fire. At the same time, 20 200-liter water tanks and a hose system have been equipped to serve on-site fire prevention and fighting. The lighting system has also been focused on, at 5:30 the Management Board cut off the electricity, but to facilitate people, we have connected another power source to serve the lighting needs during these days”.
An officer from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Department of Cultural Management said that currently, Decree 11 on folk beliefs in burning votive papers only prohibits burning votive papers at historical sites. In addition, there is no document regulating the burning of votive papers among the people.
Therefore, the management of this special product requires specific regulations and standards related to social activities such as fire prevention, environment, pricing, tax obligations, etc. to both preserve the beauty of spiritual culture (filial piety) and manage the market well.
Thanh Nga
