In Cambodia, the ghosts prefer dollars

By Julia Wallace
The New York Times
Friday, April 8, 2016

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- One recent morning Suon Sokhum, a colonel in the Cambodian Army, was shopping for gifts for his ancestors.

Qingming, the annual festival to honor the dead, was coming up, and throughout the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, people burn offerings to provide for their ancestors in the spirit world.

At a stall on the southern fringe of one of the city's oldest markets, he browsed votive wares ranging from traditional red candles to glossy Lexus sport utility vehicles made of cardboard, finally settling on several sets of paper clothing and four neat stacks of replica $100 bills.

Col. Suon Sokhum paid for the presents in local currency, the riel, but said he would never consider offering riel to his ancestors. They, like ghosts and spirits throughout Cambodia, prefer dollars. ...

... For the remainder of the report:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/world/asia/cambodia-qingming-festival-...