Devil’s dollars

The matter-of-fact sign above the notes said, “Best offering for a freshly dead person.” Hell Bank Notes are, simply, Afterlife or Spirit Money. The Chinese believe that people continue to do in the afterlife what they did while alive. In Macau, that would involve a lot of gambling. There are several ways of bankrolling the deceased — the notes can be left on a grave or burned in ceremonial fires during the yearly Hungry Ghost Festival. Twenty $500,000,000 bills for the equivalent of Rs. 10.