Each day of the Chinese Spring Festival has some special “theme,” it seems, though I have yet to find out what most of them really are.

Day 10, though, is easy to remember. That’s the night that my Mother-in-Law (along with lots of other women in China) prepares an offering table to the “Sky God,” or tian gong.

Many of the foodstuffs that go on the table for the Sky God are duplicates of those offered to departed relatives, so they apparently share some of the same tastes.

At midnight, tradition dictates that more Afterlife Money is burned in offering to this deity, along with candles and incense being lit–pretty much as is done on any spiritual occasion.

So here, in picture format, is a summary of what was offered to the Sky God that evening–and which doubles as an overview of what we had for lunch and dinner for the next few days.