FAQ — Ancestor Money and Temple Burns

Thirty questions we answer by email most weeks — ordering, what happens at the furnace, what comes back, and how the Burn Club works. If yours is not here, the address at the bottom reaches a person.

Last updated 12 November 2026

Ordering and payment

How do I order ancestor money or a temple burn?

Pick the product, fill in the ancestor’s name, your relationship and the sentence you want said, then pay. Temple orders take about two minutes: the form asks for three things and nothing else. The paper is included in every service tier, so there is nothing to add at checkout and nothing to mail in.

Do I need an account to order?

No. Guest checkout is the default and most orders go through it. An account only helps if you want to see past orders and the proof files in one place.

Which payment methods do you accept?

PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, all in US dollars. Card details are handled by the payment provider and never reach our server.

Can I change the name or the wish after ordering?

Yes, up to 48 hours before the burn date. Email us with the order number and the correction; the petition is copied by hand and sealed after that point, which is why the window closes when it does.

What is the deadline for the next burn?

Names must reach the temple two days before the burn, and burns happen on the 1st and 15th of the lunar month. Order later than that and your ancestor moves to the following burn day — we email you which date it landed on.

Do you charge sales tax or duties?

US sales tax is added at checkout where we are required to collect it. Import duty or VAT charged at your border is the recipient’s, collected by the carrier — it is not included in the price you pay us.

The ritual itself

What actually happens to my order at the temple?

Your petition is copied by hand onto a 疏文, the formal petition sheet, and sealed with a cinnabar stamp. At the temple the offerings go on the altar, three sticks of incense are lit, your ancestor’s name is read aloud, and the paper is burned stack by stack at the brazier. The whole sequence is at the Temple of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak in Hebei.

What should I write in the petition?

The ancestor’s name, how you are related, and one sentence about what should be said. Fifty words is the limit. Something like: Chen Wei Lan, my grandmother, the house is paid off and your grandson started school. It does not need to be formal and it does not need to rhyme.

What if I do not know my ancestor's full name?

Use what you have — a family name plus 氏, a childhood name, or the name you called them. Write it in the order notes and we will copy it exactly as given. Many customers only know a surname and a generation; that is enough to write a petition.

Can I burn ancestor money for a living person?

No. The practice is addressed to the dead, and paper burned for a living person is considered bad luck in the tradition itself. If you want to do something for a living relative, order a talisman matched to their birth year instead.

Can I name more than one ancestor?

Yes. The $77 Ancestor Bundle includes three separate petitions — one per ancestor, three sheets, not three names on one page. Lower tiers carry one name each; order twice if you need two.

Why burn at a temple instead of at home?

You can burn at home, and nothing stops you. What a temple gives you is the part that requires a person: a handwritten petition, a seal, a monk saying the name out loud, and a furnace in a place where open flame is not a fine. That is what the deposit buys — not sanctity, paperwork done in the right room.

Proof and delivery

What proof do I get that the burn happened?

Three things with every temple order: a video from the brazier, a photograph of the sealed petition beside the incense, and a photograph of the ash after the last stack. They arrive by email within five days of the burn.

How long is the video?

30–60 seconds for the $12.94 and $33 tiers, filmed at the furnace. The $77 bundle gets a 60–90 second uncut version of the full sequence, altar to furnace. The Burn Club sends a monthly digest rather than a weekly video.

How much is shipping, and how long does it take?

A flat $5.95 worldwide, free over $75, dispatched in 1–2 business days. US parcels typically arrive in 6–12 business days, the UK and EU in 10–18, Australia in 12–20. Every parcel is tracked.

Do temple services ship anything?

No. The paper is bought, written on and burned at the temple on your behalf; the only things that travel are the talisman included with a qualifying tier and, for Burn Club members, the bound petition book at the end of the year.

Burn Club subscription

What is the Burn Club?

Fifty-two temple burns over a year — one every week — for $333, which works out to $6.41 a burn. Each week is the full $33 ritual: a complete pack of paper, an offering on the altar, incense, and the monk chanting the petition. Not a stripped-down weekly run.

Does the Burn Club renew automatically?

No. It is one payment for fifty-two burns, not a recurring subscription. Nothing is charged at the end of the year unless you order again.

Can I pause or cancel a membership?

Yes. Pause for up to eight weeks in a year and the calendar shifts so all fifty-two burns are still delivered. Cancel after the first burn and the remaining whole weeks are refunded at $6.41 each, less the talisman if it has already shipped.

Can I change the name on a membership?

Any month, at no cost. Reply to the monthly letter with the new name or the revised wish and the next petition carries it. A second ancestor can be added the same way.

Is a talisman included with the Burn Club?

Yes — one hand-painted five element talisman, matched to a birth year, posted once at the start of the membership. It is the same piece that sells for $29.99 on its own, and the same one included with the $33 and $77 tiers.

Talismans

How is my element chosen?

From the nayin, the element attached to the year pillar in the Chinese almanac, counted from 立春 in early February rather than 1 January. Enter the birth year at checkout and the matching colour is selected — white metal, green wood, blue water, red fire, yellow earth.

Can I choose the colour myself?

Yes. The five colours are listed as variations and any of them can be ordered directly. The birth year only produces a recommendation; it is a default, not a rule.

Is the talisman blessed?

It is painted by hand and, when it is included with a temple tier, it travels to the temple with your petition and is held over the brazier while the name is read. Bought on its own, it ships with a blank petition card so you can write the name yourself.

Culture and trust

Is this a real practice or something invented for the internet?

Burning paper money for the dead is documented in China for well over a thousand years, and it is still done at Qingming, at the seventh lunar month, and on death anniversaries. What is new is the ability to have it done at a temple without knowing anyone in China. The practice is old; the ordering is new.

Why is it called hell money or hell bank notes?

Because early English translations rendered 冥币 as “hell money” — the underworld in Chinese folk religion is an administrative bureaucracy, not a place of punishment. The notes are currency for that bureaucracy. We use “hell bank notes” as the product name and “ancestor money” everywhere else.

Is any of this guaranteed to work?

No, and we say so on every page. This is a cultural ritual performed correctly: paper, petition, seal, chanting. No outcome is promised — not money, not health, not luck — and no cash value is implied. What you are buying is the ritual and the record of it.

Where is the temple, and can I visit?

The Temple of the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak (东岳大帝) is in Hebei, China. It is a working temple, not a visitor attraction we run, and we do not arrange tours. If you are ever in the region, the shrine is open to the public.

Returns and support

Can I get a refund?

Unopened physical goods: 30 days. Temple burns: full refund up to 48 hours before the burn, none after the petition is sealed — but if we get a name or a date wrong, we redo it free. Burn Club: full refund within 7 days of purchase, pro-rata afterwards. The full rules are on the returns page.

What if the name is misspelled or the wrong date was burned?

That is our error and we fix it at our cost: the burn is redone on the next burn day, or refunded in full if you would rather not. Email the order number and what is wrong — no argument required.

How do I reach a human?

Email info@ancestorbank.com. One business day, usually less, and the person who answers can actually change your order.

Still stuck? Email info@ancestorbank.com with your order number. If your question is about a name, a date or a refund, that is the fastest route to a real answer.

Where to go next

A cultural ritual, not a promise. No outcome is guaranteed, and no cash value is implied.

Frequently Asked Questions