Church/Temple

Every Chinese New Year, when I stay at my grandmother's place in Ping-Dong, we would always go to the temples. The local temple we go to is always filled with people. The tables are piled with food of all colors in decorative baskets and trays. The smell of burning inscence mingled with a light scent of flowers always make me want to sneeze. Sometimes, there would be two giant candles burning at the very end of the temple, right in front of the figurines. The figurine in the center is the largest and the most lavishly decorated. What fascinates me the most, however, are the two smaller figurines on the two sides. One has a red face with long ears while the other has a green face, both of them very serious-looking. The one with the red face is called "the listener" and the one with the green is called "the searcher". They are said to be able to listen to or see things from miles away. 
Outside of the temple, there is a place where people burn paper money to be sent to the ancestors. My cousins and I have always loved this part of the ritual where we get to burn paper money. I liked to watch as pieces of paper catch on fire, slowly turn black, then into ashes, but I can never stare too long. My eyes get watery and my nose get runny when I watch it for too long.
Although going to temples have now seem to be an ordinary activity, it has been something that excites me when I was young. As I write this, thinking back to the past and re-living what I have seen, these experiences seem a lot more fascinating.