VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoians have begun to purchasing votive paper products to burn for the Kitchen God Festival (ong Tao) on lunar December 23, which will fall on January 26.

Hats, clothes, shoes, carps and money are the most favored products for this festival. This year, the prices for these goods have risen at least 10 percent.

Hang Ma street, the home for votive paper products in Hanoi, has been very busy for the past two weeks. The street was covered in red, a preferred color for votive objects.

A seller said this year the market for votive paper products for deaths is abundant and diversified but due to inflation prices have increased by 10-20 percent over last year.

A set of items for the Kitchen Gods, including three hats, three sets of clothes, three pairs of shoes and three carps, is priced from VND100-120,000 ($5-6), depending on the size. Clothes for wandering souls are priced from VND35,000-40,000/100 sets.

The market for votive paper products continue to heat up this weekend, a seller said, adding that the prices may increase by 20-30 percent more.

The day that the Kitchen Gods return to the heaven is considered as the first day of the lunar New Year so many families will organize a year-end worshipping ceremony. They will burn money, vehicles, cell phones, and other belongings in the name of the dead.

Therefore, many votive paper product shops in Hang Ma street also display paper-made modern products for the dead like television sets, cars, motorbikes, houses, washing machines, etc. These things are priced from several hundreds of thousands dong to a million dong.

There is a popular belief in Vietnam that Tao Quan, the Three Kitchen Gods, are present in the kitchen of every home. These gods observe everything that takes place there. At the end of the lunar year, on the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, they depart to make their report to Ngoc Hoang, the Jade Emperor, supreme divinity of the Taoist Heaven. On that day Tao Quan are offered the best foods and spices and are presented with gifts of money and clothing.

PV