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Hell Euros
Jan. 3rd, 2010 11:31 pm
Edit: Randall was interested in these, so I emailed him my scans and he has cleaned it up a little and posted it here.
If you're not familiar with what joss paper or "Hell money" is and what it's for, Randall at BigWhiteGuy.com has a nice illustrated write-up on that here.
I remember Hell money modeled on US greenback designs used to be fashionable, back when the US dollar was very popular as an investment currency. Last time I was in Calgary, I spotted some made in the design of Euros. I didn't find any pictures of them on Google, so when I was at that store again with my mom last week, I asked to buy some.
(It would offend my dad to be playful around stuff "meant for dead people," bad luck and stuff like that. My mom's family is superstitious too but they don't take it as seriously. Mom says that I should take them to Vancouver to burn for my deceased relatives when I'm done playing with them, though. Well yeah -- I'd like them to visit me in Finland, you know. In spirit.)
Each pack cost about two bucks and has around 60 sheets.
It actually says "joss paper Euros" on this package. See?
There were actually two different kinds:
Edit to add: for those wondering about the mail situation, I came back from my vacation to quite the pile of mail stuffed under my door by my flatmates and the Secret Santa parcel.
If you're not familiar with what joss paper or "Hell money" is and what it's for, Randall at BigWhiteGuy.com has a nice illustrated write-up on that here.
I remember Hell money modeled on US greenback designs used to be fashionable, back when the US dollar was very popular as an investment currency. Last time I was in Calgary, I spotted some made in the design of Euros. I didn't find any pictures of them on Google, so when I was at that store again with my mom last week, I asked to buy some.
(It would offend my dad to be playful around stuff "meant for dead people," bad luck and stuff like that. My mom's family is superstitious too but they don't take it as seriously. Mom says that I should take them to Vancouver to burn for my deceased relatives when I'm done playing with them, though. Well yeah -- I'd like them to visit me in Finland, you know. In spirit.)
Each pack cost about two bucks and has around 60 sheets.
It actually says "joss paper Euros" on this package. See?
There were actually two different kinds:
 |
These ones are pretty suck. The paper is coarser than the other, and it just looks like a bad Photoshop. (It really is a bad Photoshop based on a real 500 Euro note.) Did I mention the bad Photoshopping? Maybe Hell Europe uses dollars? |
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The design on these ones is more cleanly done, modelling the door/bridge motif with an Asian twist, and the paper is a little nicer. Even the shrink-wrap was nicer and wasn't glued to the paper. Clearly the people who made these put more time into it, and I could go on to write about the symbolism the, uh, designers(?)/artists(?)/photoshoppers(?) incorporated, but armed with the knowledge from Randall's article (linked above), you can probably spot some on your own (click for enlargement). P.S. I quite like how it says "Please don't replicate" in Chinese next to where it says "Made in China". The detail is fascinating! |
Edit to add: for those wondering about the mail situation, I came back from my vacation to quite the pile of mail stuffed under my door by my flatmates and the Secret Santa parcel.
