Faculty of Art

Printmaking & Publications

Helen Tran

Swaying Prayers

Joss paper or money paper, is a custom to East Asia cultures. It is a paper custom used for burning at a funeral and ancestral ceremonies. These papers are often presented in golds, silvers, and are thin bamboo or rice paper. Where some depict images of Chinese characters for wishes, prayers, and longevity, and is burn for our ancestors in the afterlife.

“The burning of these papers is a custom and symbolic significance to mourning, yet it also brings peace as I echo my prayers. To me, it is a healing process, as the papers are being burnt, it shows its amber glow — it almost feels as though I am releasing an ache. I kneel, slowly laying down the paper in a firepot or kern, a gesture of honouring our ancestors.”