The Offerings in Taoism (最重要的道教供品)

In Taoism, we always hear people saying about “5 Offerings” or “10 Offerings”.

And so what actually are they?

Here’s a brief intro on the Offerings:

The 5 Offering:

They consists of

1 Incense (香)
2 Flowers (花)
3 Light (can be candle or oil-lamp 燈)
4 Water (a cup 水)
5 Fruit (one quantity is enough 果)

Whereas the 10 Offering consists of:

1 Incense
2 Flowers
3 Light (can be candle or oil-lamp)
4 Water (a cup)
5 Fruit (one quantity is enough)
6 Tea (or Tea Leaves)
7 Food
8 Gems
9 Pearl
10 Clothing (new set)

As for Folks’ Practises, for items 7 to 10, we can change them to:

7 Food to rice (uncooked)
8 Gems to Longevity Peaches (make of flour)
9 Pearl to Longevity Noodles (uncooked)
10 Clothing to Traditional Kueh, eg: Huat Kueh, Ang Ku Kueh

PS: No matter what items/food/offerings that we offered to the Deities, the Deities won’t consume them, so a small quantity will be fine. The most important is the Sincerity that you have during the preparation and at the moment you make offering to the Deities.