The other part of ghost month is the burning of paper money. It is hard yellow paper that almost feels like cardboard and they come with various designs on them. You have to take your real money to go buy this official ghost money, and then you burn the ghost money.
To burn it you must put it in the special pot you see in the picture. You don't have to do it one at a time, but you also can't just put it all in at the same time. You also have to fold the money before you put it in the fire. Which all means you have to stand there for awhile and on a hot summer's day, standing next to a fire is torture. I'm guessing the ghosts enjoy this much more than the actual money itself.
Depending on the day, the money is for a different group. It can be for a god, your own ancestors, or to bribe ghosts to not bother you or your business. It seems like Taiwanese just view ghosts as gangsters who are running a protection racket from beyond the grave. I also have no clue what they spend the money on, and if they are given money, than why have to set up tables with food offerings as well. can't the ghosts just buy that stuff? Also if everybody is offering food, isn't that kind of boring for the ghosts? you should offer the goods of your store. if you sell TVs than it seems like you should offer TVs.
I do respect ghost money a bit more though, as you are actually sacrificing something. the food offerings aren't really a sacrifice since you are eating them later. However there is a huge drawback to ghost money, It stinks up the whole neighborhood. Imagine every store on the street has one of these, the black smoke and pieces of burnt money flying around the air, the overwhelming stench and heat everywhere. It's really terrible. This picture i took was next to a bus stop and i really wanted to take a picture of the people at the bus stop because so many of them had red noses and crying eyes. I'm all for freedom of religion but this seems like a huge health concern. I hope one day there can be a way that people can practice this tradition while also not harming the health of everybody in the city.
