This alter, outside a household door, is full of burnt sticks of incense and ashes. This altar is probably dedicated to the family’s ancestors. The burning of incense when related to ancestors is not a form of worship, but it a symbol of reverence and respect in China.
These large sticks of incense are burning in a metal pavilion outside of a temple on the island of Coloane. While I was looking at the temple, a native woman came in and gave a man inside of the temple 100 RMB, about 12 dollars. The man then gave her a stack of colored paper. She took the papers and knelt on a padded stool as the man poured a little oil into two glass lanterns. She whispered a prayer then walked out of the temple to a large metal stove. She thrust the stack of papers into the stove and covered them with white coals. She then chanted quietly to herself while bouncing on the balls of her toes and lifting and dropping her arms. The temple is a place of worship and also a tourist attraction. In the picture above a Chinese tourist peers into the smoky temple and looks at the fruit covered table. A little girl in a yellow dress is walking behind him on her way to put incense in a basket out side the temple doors.
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