So this is like a table my parent put right by the door, then they get the fake money stuff and hold it in between the palm of their hands, do some prayer thing, then burn the "fake money", so the ancestors in the heavens can... checks notes ...get money to spend? Idk I'm so confused, as a 1.5 gen I don't even understand my own heritage either.
(Also why is Heaven run under capitalism? lmfao, but hey, at least we can relate to our "ancestors in the heavens", money struggles both in coporeal and non-corporeal forms 😆 (meant as a joke, pls don't bring the seriousness of politics here lol))
Honestly idk if I'd even do this stuff with my future chosen-family... I'm just very leaning towards atheism and, no offense to my ancestors, but this just seems kinda silly to me IMO.
I feel too Americanized already and doing this now makes me feel like I'm a "phoney" (as if I'm a "pretender to Chinese Culture"... like idk my mind doesn't feel very "Chinese" exactly... I haven't participated in the prayer thing ever since like teenage years and I read about atheism)
Also now its new years and I'm not allowed to mention "bad words" like... "death" and like no yelling allowed
Oh yea mom maybe can you do the "no scolding your children" thing 365 days a year? thanks xD
Bonus:
So anyways: Enjoy your Lunar New Years! (enjoy the few days of being immune from getting a scolding xD cuz it's bad luck to scold your children on New Years apparantly)
Money is much older than capitalism. David Graeber's book debt has a pretty good history of both.
This reminds me of David Chapman's comments on how once you can question traditions, as you're doing here, you're no longer able to relate to meaning in a traditional way;
https://meaningness.com/fundamentalism-countercultural-modernism