On the second day of the Year of the Rat I went to a Taoist temple which was crowded with people paying their respects to the new year. A lot of this involves touching or rubbing with the palm bronze images of various animals, both real and legendary in the hopes of making lots of money during the coming year - one might say, praying with Chinese characteristics. People also left unburnt incense as offerings in various parts of the temple. Workers - monks? - collected the incense and burned it in huge dumpster like contraptions. And that is what you are seeing here. |