Ali grabbed his bedside table from upstairs and brought it down into the alley, where nainai and mama proceeded to place candles, 3 types of meat (chicken, pork, and squid), and a bundle of dragon eyes (longan fruit). Beef cannot be one of the meats used because the cows are farmers friends.
Nainai proceeded with some prayers and I was asked if I wanted to join in. Of course! As nainai prayed we were given incense sticks and lit them, putting them between our hands and raising them to our forehead. Ali, Niki, and I then placed our incense sticks into a cup of un-cooked rice. The incense sticks represent chop sticks, so they have to be held up by the rice as it is symbolic.
Next, a large round metal drum (hollow container, not a musical drum) was wheeled out in front and paper was thrown in and lit on fire. Everyone proceeded to throw in this special paper which represented money. Paper with a gold foil was money that would go to the gods. Paper with a silver foil would go to our ancestors in "hell". This religion has gods in heaven and everyone else (regardless if they are good or bad) go to hell, and hell has 18 levels. Think of them as parkades. P1 is if you are good, and P18 is if you are really bad.
Just as the fire started to die down it started to rain, which I though was really neat and it definitely felt like something spiritual was going on.
It was time to start packing things up. We brought the food back upstairs and Ali stick the incense between a pipe and our house.
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