How to venerate relics

Hi all,

a customer asked me to provide him with more information on how to venerate relics. The veneration (showing respect to) of relics depends on Buddhist tradition. I vaguely recalling reading about a detailed account of how to venerate relics in the Vajrayana Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It is a comprehensive account. Unfortunately, at the moment, I am not able to locate the book I vaguely recall reading about this matter.

Neverthess, one may refer to this Wikipedia article in the meantime:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offering_(Buddhism)

In short, one may make offerings to relics in the following ways:
- Offer flowers (lotus, for example)
- Offer incense
- Offer water (you can place the water in a bowl or cup)
- Offer lights (lighting a candle, for example; or electronic candles or lights may also be used as a substitute)
- Offer fruits, food and/or drinks
- Offer music (example: electronic recording of Buddhist chants)

The main purpose of making offerings to relics (or venerating them) is to gain merits and show respect to a tangible manifestation of the realization of Buddha's teachings. It is possible that the more devoted one is, the more offerings one makes, the more likely the relics might multiply and maybe the faster they would multiply. According to a friend of mine, this is what happened to his friend's relics as his friend is very zealous in making 24 hour offerings in various forms to his relics.