Joss paper 3: Clothes

Yet another form of joss paper. This particular example was collected in Singapore around 2014. It is a more elaborate version of the paper featured previously 

This particular piece of paper is intended to be burnt as an offering to the deceased. It would then re-materialize on the "Other side"  as a garment. 

It consists of a T-shaped piece of decorated paper, to which a pair of yellow triangles of crepe paper have been attached to either side. (The triangle on the left side was crumpled in the process of scanning). This is a particularly conservative form. Paper makers also make more modern-looking clothes. 

These clothes come in a pack of around 20 pieces. The garments in such a pack come in several different colours of paper-- yellow, red and green in addition to white.  

Paper makers also sell smaller versions of such clothes, intended as offerings for the wandering spirits of those who died in infancy. 

Joss paper 2: Clothes

In Singapore, makers of joss paper sell sets of papers, containing all the necessary offerings for a particular spirit or divinity. The following pieces of joss paper come from such a set, intended for worshiping one's ancestors. They represent clothes.

The clothes come in an elegant pattern of key-frets and foliage. They come in red and green, as seen below.

Although these examples are patterned, some examples are plain. Joss paper makers also produce smaller versions of such clothes, intended as an offering to those who died in infancy. 

Joss paper 1- "Cloth"

According to Chinese tradition, one may send gifts to one's ancestors ( clothes, money and even whole houses) if paper representations of these things are burnt as offerings to them. Such paper articles are commonly known as "joss paper" .
  Many of these papers are most curious , if in their own gaudy way, and I shall be presenting more of such things in the future.

The present article of joss paper is a square sheet of thin Chinese , or "Rice" paper. It is printed with a elegant pattern of flowers and scrollwork. It is intended to represent a piece of patterned cloth-- presumably for ancestors who prefer making their own clothes.

 

This paper is printed off a woodblock, as seen from the black gouge marks in the upper left corner. This is somewhat surprising, considering that this paper was bought around 2011.This sheet was once part of a stack of sheets. All bore the same pattern ( as here) but were printed on different colour of paper -- green , yellow  and white in addition to this pink colour.