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Everyday customs in Taiwan: The work of folding spirit money

  • 08 January, 2023
  • Naomi Hellman
Everyday customs in Taiwan: The work of folding spirit money
A transgender woman loosely folds sheets of small, coarse gold printed paper in half by hand as part of the ritual of sending offerings to the departed. Folding is an important step in the basic sequence of the rite that also commonly includes writing, displaying food, prayer, bowing, burning, libation, and other practices (Photo: Naomi Hellman).

A transgender woman tediously folds spirit money that she purchased from a small retail shop nearby that is owned by an elderly woman, who typically sits on the street in front of the curb selling betel, and who she said supplies the neighborhood with paper monies, incense sticks, and other articles for worship. 

Each repast necessitates the purchase of a new set of offerings, consisting of stacks of paper, piles of food, and other provisions, making the transmission of religious and social practices through the consumption of tangible material goods a particularly enterprising activity.

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