Story of
Song Ho Village - Thuan Thanh, Bac Ninh, Vietnam
In Song Ho ward, Thuan Thanh town, Bac Ninh province, over ninety percent of households devote themselves to making votive paper offerings — earning the village its name as the nation’s largest ‘paper offering workshop.’ When we arrived, the villagers spoke with quiet pride of a craft that has shaped their lives for almost a century.
Quang, a votive paper maker, reflected: “I make votive offerings because I want to see the living find happiness in fulfilling the unfinished wishes of those who have passed. To many, it’s just paper — it burns and disappears. But what they don’t see is how it eases the hearts of those left behind.”
Mrs. Lua has spent a lifetime intertwined with the art of votive paper. She said, ‘How could we live without it? It’s a beauty of Vietnamese culture, the burning of joss paper is how we keep the memory of our ancestors alive."
For their family, votive paper is more than a tradition — it is spiritual sustenance. Mr.Hau shared that the act of burning these offerings is a quiet bridge between the living and the departed, a way to send love across realms.
She is a spirit medium, bound to the craft of votive paper for 18 years. Her family creates offerings devoted to the deities and the Four Palaces. To her, every piece, every delicate form carries a story of its own. She speaks of them with reverence, as if fate itself had tied her to their making.
