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Bank of Hades” busy during Tet
Copied from
VietNamNet – Hanoi’s
Cot village is known as the “Bank of Hades” with
vast quantities of votive money made and traded
daily.
Straying into the Bank of Hades
Cot village in Yen
Hoa ward, Cau Giay District, specializes in
producing instruments and money for the afterlife. I
visited the village early in the morning close to
Tet, as “banking staff’ from various areas came to
make transactions.
Entering the village
I saw innumerable paper clothes, vehicles, and
votive US dollars airing on the sidewalk. Several
small trucks were running on the small village road
carrying paper for votive objects, and men were
pulling cyclos loaded with all kinds of votive
money, from coins to US dollar, Vietnamese dong and
even gold and silver bullion.
Cot villagers say
that votive money printed in their village does not
only serve the need of Hanoians' ceremonial ‘burnt
offerings’, but also people in neighboring provinces
such as Hung Yen, Hai Phong, and Nam Dinh.
It is said that life
in the Hades is similar to life on the earth, with
people in the afterlife spending money just like us,
and coming to Cot village, I became aware of how
people of the beyond spend. They have all kinds of
money in this other world: Vietnamese dong, US
banknotes and coins, and gold and silver in the form
of bullion and sheets.
According to
preliminary statistics of the culture and
information sector, Vietnamese people annually burn
40,000 tons of votive paper. According to Prof. PhD
To Ngoc Thanh, Secretary General of Vietnam Folk
Arts Association Production, burning of votive paper
is part of Vietnamese culture, but it is a waste if
too large a volume is burnt so it is necessary to
control the votive paper sold in the market to
ensure the existence of craft villages producing
such objects.
Dung, one of the
biggest producers of votive money in Cot village,
said that money for people of the beyond is divided
into several kinds based on the buyer. The poor can
purchase votive money made from recycled paper at a
low price, while richer people can buy votive money
made from better quality paper.
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