information:extraction, structural:expansion
Taoism

Taoist altars are erected to honor traditional deities and the spirits of ancestors. Taoist altars may be erected in temples or in private homes. Strict traditions and different sects describe the items offered and the ritual involved in the temples, but folk custom in the homes is much freer.

Imperial dynasties built huge altars called jìtán (祭坛) to perform various offering ceremonies called jìsì (祭祀). The Temple of Heaven in Beijing is one of those.

Nearly all forms of Chinese traditional religion involve baibai (拜拜)--bowing towards an altar, with a stick of incense in one's hand. (Some schools prescribe the use of three sticks of incense in the hand at one time.) This may be done at home, or in a temple, or outdoors; by an ordinary person, or a professional (such as a Taoist priest); and the altar may feature any number of deities or ancestral tablets. Baibai is usually done in accordance with certain dates of the lunar/solar calendar (see Chinese calendar).

At certain dates, food may be set out as a sacrifice to the gods or spirits of the departed. (See, for example, Qingming Festival and Ghost Festival.) This may include rice, slaughtered pigs and ducks, or fruit. Another form of sacrifice involves the burning of Hell Bank Notes, on the assumption that images thus consumed by the fire will reappear—not as a mere image, but as the actual item—in the spirit world, and be available for the departed spirit to use. In Taoist folk religion, sometimes chickens, pigs' feet, and pig heads are given as offerings. But in orthodox Daoist practice, offerings should essentially be incense, candles and vegetarian offerings.