In Taoism, we always hear people saying about “5 Offerings” or “10 Offerings”.
And so what actually are they?
Here’s a brief intro on the Offerings:
The 5 Offering:
They consists of
1 Incense
2 Flowers
3 Light (can be candle or oil-lamp)
4 Water (a cup)
5 Fruit (one quantity is enough)
Whereas the 10 Offering consists of:
1 Incense
2 Flowers
3 Light (can be candle or oil-lamp)
4 Water (a cup)
5 Fruit (one quantity is enough)
6 Tea (or Tea Leaves)
7 Food
8 Gems
9 Pearl
10 Clothing (new set)
As for Folks’ Practises, for items 7 to 10, we can change them to:
7 Food to rice (uncooked)
8 Gems to Longevity Peaches (make of flour)
9 Pearl to Longevity Noodles (uncooked)
10 Clothing to Traditional Kueh, eg: Huat Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh
PS: No matter what items/food/offerings that we offered to the Deities, the Deities won’t consume them, so a small quantity will be fine. The most important is the Sincerity that you have during the preparation and at the moment you make offering to the Deities.
The Mountain Treasure, Sea Favour and 5 Elements Offering:
1 Ginger (Mountain Treasure)
2 Salt (Sea Favour)
3 Dried Lily Buds / jin zhen (Gold)
4 Dried Black Tree Fungus / mu er (Wood)
5 Glass Noodle / dong fen (Water)
6 Dried Bean Curd Sticks / fu zhu (Fire)
7 Dried Black Mushrooms / xiang gu (Earth)