Chinese culture began to have an influence on Thai lifestyle in about 200 years ago by Chinese immigrants. Several Chinese culture have changed into Thais way since Thai people are closely related with Chinese people. (My ancestors are also Chinese who fled to Thailand.) The cultures and traditions of Thai people are similar to Chinese. Most of Thai Chinese believe in afterlife. People have afterlife when they died. They either go to heaven or hell depending on their merit-making while they?re alive. They do have the same basic needs as they are alive. In order to pay tribute to our ancestors and to guarantee the ancestors? well- being, we have ancestor worship ceremonies during special holidays. For Thai Chinese (Thai people of Chinese descent), the grandest Ancestor Worship Ceremony is held on Chinese New Year. The whole families will get together, which is similar to Songkran festival (Thai New Year) to Thais.

This year, the festival of Chinese New Year began on February 19. The burning traditional is a way to pay respects and look after ancestors in their afterlives. We have to burn paper objects created paper to imitate money, gold, luxury car, beautiful house, fashionable clothes and even the latest cellphones. The ancient believe that the burned paper objects will transform into smoke which rise to the heaven. Then our deceased grandparents can enjoy using all wonderful goods we have burnt.

In fact, the paper objects are made of colored paper with a gold or silver foil printed on it and some of them coated with lead and bronze to imitate metal money and gold. They don?t need to be used in reality then positive comes with negative. The color and adhesive are low quality that have mixture of lead, Chromium and Manganese. The burning process can release toxic vapor to the environment especially when it has done in improper way.

Burning these paper objects is also a leading cause of smog, acid rain, and toxic air pollution. As we all know, these also harm body processes and are toxic to human organs and tissues including the heart, kidneys, and nervous systems as well as can be leading cause of cancer to death. My parents and my grandparents used to burn lots of paper objects in every year to cultivate kinship values and continuity of the family beliefs as Thai Chinese. After my grand grandfather?s death of lung disease, our burning traditional became lower. These recent years, we have no more burning traditional. My grandfather and my parents know it?s harmful for both our health and environment. My grandmother feels guilty about not continuing the existence of traditional. I suggest her to decrease the amount of burning and have burning process done properly in order to prevent the toxic from leaking.

Cultures and religions shape our lives. They influence our thought and our livelihood. For me, sometimes, the beliefs are not always right theoretically. Ancestors have never asked for favors, burning things is just the unique strategy to ensure that their descendants are living well enough to spend money on non-functional stuffs. May be it is a trick in gathering the whole families to do activity together once in a year. I believe that the spirits could rest happily if I don?t cause any problems for them to feel worry about me. Therefore, there?s no dire need of big house or luxury cars to be sent in the form of smoke. Beside, my grandfather told me that he doesn?t think my grand grandparents will need IPhone or IPad since they have never seen them.