Choose Fruit by Color and Meaning When Praying for Wealth on Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Birthday

For worshippers preparing offerings for Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s birthday, the choice of fruit can carry a range of traditional meanings. The birthday falls on the final day of the seventh lunar month, or September 10, 2026, and many people will offer food while praying for safety and smooth progress in life.

Folk expert Yang Deng-ke recommends fruits with auspicious-sounding names or rounded, full shapes. Offerings can be arranged in odd numbers, such as one, three or five pieces. Five fruits have a favorable association in Taiwanese, because the number sounds similar to a phrase meaning “to have,” suggesting continued abundance. The number also represents prosperity through the five elements.

For companies or large families making offerings together, Yang said a whole box of fruit can be stacked into a triangle from the bottom up. The arrangement expresses a wish for steady advancement. Apples, oranges, kiwifruit and peaches are among the suggested choices. Apples evoke safety through their name, while kiwifruit carries the symbolic meaning of an auspicious fruit.

Color also plays a role in customs surrounding money and achievement. Green belongs to wood in the traditional five-element system and is linked with work, careers, creativity and logic. Green kiwifruit may therefore be chosen by people seeking regular income, promotion or success in examinations. Gold and yellow, by contrast, are associated with money and windfall luck, making yellow kiwifruit, yellow-skinned pomelos and citrus fruits popular symbolic choices for those praying for investment gains or greater wealth.

Fresh, attractive flowers can also be offered. Lotus flowers carry Buddhist associations with purity and wisdom, as well as release in rituals connected with mourning and salvation. Yang cautioned that the guidance reflects folk customs rather than fixed religious requirements. Worshippers, he said, should prepare offerings according to their means and intentions, with reverence and sincerity taking priority.

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The most important thing is still to prepare according to your own ability and intentions, and to maintain reverence and sincerity.