When my family and I light joss sticks, prepare food offerings, and burn paper gifts (mostly replicas of clothes, houses, and cars) for our ancestors in return for blessings such as wealth and good health, it has always seemed to me that what we do approaches worship not so much as it does a highly pragmatic, reciprocal relationship tempered by remembered bonds of love and affection.

Stephanie Lai's previous work for The Toast can be found here. In 1926, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par migrate to Singapore from Yangon. In 1937, annoyed by Kids These Days, they open Tiger Balm Gardens, a site from which they plan to teach Singaporeans about traditional Chinese values. Their company, the Haw Par Corporation, produces Tiger Balm. It’s not traditional values, but it is traditional. In 1988, Tiger Balm Gardens is renamed…