Making offerings to deceased family members to show devotion and honor them or to revere gods, sprits or holy beings is part of most Asian religious traditions. In Theravada Buddhism, Burmese families bring food offerings to temples and monasteries in vessels called hsun oks to feed monks, make merit and enhance their karma and in Thailand flowers, incense and candles are common offerings made to Buddhist monks, Buddha images and people of higher rank to show respect.
In Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism, offerings are a way to communicate with and venerate gods and ancestors in temples or home altars, bring reciprocal blessings to the bearers and strengthen family ties. This may include offerings of fruit, vegetables, sweets, tea and flowers. Offerings may be represented in many ways: physically or symbolically on home and temple altars; as a single or pair of attendant statues holding offerings or as auspicious and symbolic images or decorative motifs placed on furniture, architecture, carved images, vessels, textiles or woodblock prints. For instance, a 3-item offering of dumplings on a plate is a pictorial pun for gold or silver coins symbolizing wealth and, also, a wish to pass the 3 civil levels of examinations guaranteeing a comfortable life as a civilian official. Offerings are made to the Kitchen God during the New Year to usher in health and prosperity. Traditionally, women made the offerings and men presented them on home altars or shrines to fulfill their family’s wishes.
Prasada is the word for food and water offered to deities during a daily puja ceremony in Hinduism. Five types of offerings – pushpa (flowers), dhupa (incense), deepa (light), naivedya (food) and gandha (sandalwood paste) – are made to symbolize the five elements – space, air, fire, water and earth. Offerings of fruit and flowers are also made at Hindu temples.
In Bali, trained dancers are considered messengers and direct communicators with the gods and make offerings before their performances for blessings and for acceptance of their offerings. Both the mask and dance are considered as having great power and are considered a symbolic spiritual offering to the gods.
Showing 25–33 of 33 results
This rare vintage carving was likely made for home shrine or small rice field temple dedicated to Dewi Sri, the Balinese Goddess of Rice. Likely part of a larger decorative scheme, she is presented as a beautiful young woman wearing an elaborate headdress and a rich garment with arm and wristbands and an intricate neck…
This Dalem is a traditional folk-art and ethnic mask (topeng) from Bali made from pulai wood of a Hindu king (Dalem). He stares directly at the viewer while his high cheeks help express his poise and the ability to remain cool in a crisis. This is a fine example of a gifted carver able to…
The culture, rituals, tribal and ethnic art of the Dayak (Dyak) of Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia is a mix of shamanism, animism and ancestor worship. Dyak festival masks worn on the face or large ones attached to a costume repel malicious spirits from entering communal spaces, insure village safety, protect babies in their carriers and defend…
The religion of the ethnic Dayak (Dyak) people of Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia is a mix of animism, shamanism and ancestor worship. Their word hudoq describes three different things: it describes the pests that can destroy the rice harvest on which their survival depends; the name of the huge yearly Dyak planting celebration and the name…
This very fine and very beautiful vintage woodcarving of Dewi Sri , Devi Sri or Sridevi in Java, the Balinese Hindu goddess of rice and prosperity, is in excellent condition considering it is a much used vintage piece. Personally collected in Bali in the 1970s, it reflects the offerings made to Dewi Sri placed in the rice fields to protect the rice harvest. She is depicted here as a young, attractive and fertile woman wearing a striking, highly detailed and decorative headdress similar to those worn in Balinese dances leaving her upper forehead bare and framing her oval face with high curved eyebrows, wide-open eyes and beautiful pursed lips. With its flat back it can be mounted on a wall.
Used in Theravada Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar a larger hsun ok is a vessel with a round bowl set on a pedestal that flares out to a circular foot-ring, with the top surmounted by a stupa like spire finial. Referred to as an offering vessel, traditionally many Burmese households use large ones to routinely bring offerings…
As is common in Chinese Republic porcelain figurines, this aristocratic female holds a rose called the “flower of eternal spring or youth,” an auspicious symbol of longevity and long life. As they bloom almost monthly, they are also called “monthly rose” (yueji), a pun or homophone for “four seasons” (siji) or “year-round” because of the character…
This rare folk art Rangda mask was made on the island of Lombok, Indonesia by ethnic Balinese Hindu craftsman. Primarily Muslim, a Balinese Hindu minority ruled the island from 1750-1895 and Hindu temples (pura) have been centers for Balinese activities since the 17th century. Balinese girls are encouraged to “dance with their hands” and formal…
This rare vintage ancestor mask is from West Timor, Indonesia. Religion there has been characterized by Barbier as ritual exchanges between individuals or social groups with ancestral and fertility spirits having a close reciprocal link between the deceased and the secular world as ancestors require sustenance, respect and attention while humans seek advice, good fortune,…
End of content
End of content