Xwm Kab, often addressed as Dab Xwm Kab, is the spirit of good fortune of the Hmong house and the most important of the tame domestic spirits. Its seat is the main household altar, a sheet of ritual paper decorated with touches of gold and silver leaf and chicken feathers, set on the wall of the main room so as to face the door. There the household head offers rice, chicken, soup, incense and spirit money, asking the spirit to guard the family, multiply its silver and livestock, and keep harmful spirits outside. At the New Year the old altar paper is taken down and a new one put up, renewing the compact between the family and its fortune for the year to come. Some households speak of the altar's occupants in the plural as spirits of wealth, but ritual address is to the named spirit Xwm Kab itself, and the altar and spirit together anchor the religious life of the house.