7 Important Facts That You Should Know About Hungry Ghost Festival.

teohuimin
Aug 22, 2015
3 min read

Hungry Ghost Festival Facts

Before I start sharing 7 important facts that You Should Know About Hungry Ghost Festival, I will first start off by sharing a little history behind this festival.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month. This day falls in July or August in our Western calendar. In southern China, the Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated by some on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month. The people there are said to have begun celebrating the festival a day earlier during a time of long warfare to avoid being attacked by enemies during the inauspicious day.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is one of several traditional festivals in China to worship ancestors. Others include the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, and the Double Ninth Festival. In Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province, the Hungry Ghost Festival is considered to be more important than the Qingming Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. The Taoist name for the Hungry Ghost Festival is the Zhongyuan Festival (中元节), and Buddhists call it the Yulanpen Festival.

They perform special ceremonies to avoid the wrath of the ghosts such as putting the family’s ancestral tablets on a table, burning incense, and preparing food three times that day. The main ceremony is usually held at dusk. People put the family’s ancestral tablets and old paintings and photographs on a table and then burn incense near them. Plates of food are put out for the ghosts on the table, and the people may kowtow in front of the memorial tablets and report their behavior to their ancestors to receive a blessing or punishment. People also feast on this night, and they might leave a place open at the table for a lost ancestor.

They want to feed the hungry ghosts who have been wandering the land since the beginning of Hungry Ghost Month. It is thought that after two weeks of activity, they must be very hungry.

1st fact: NEVER EVER step on the offerings on the ground or even the ashes from burning.

What I'll always do is to say ' excuse me ' in my heart. It is okay if you unintentionally step on it, but it's like a form of respect to them if you say things like ' excuse me ' or even apologise to them. If not they MAY feel disrespected.

2nd fact: NEVER sit on the first row of getai / puppet show. Those seats are meant for the unseen or rather the 'brothers' and 'sisters'.

Well, I wasn't aware of this until my friend told me.So, today I'm sharing this with you all.

3rd fact: Pretend that you didn't see them

For the first time, when I saw it, I was so afraid that I immediately turn my head over.However, after that, I was told that if you see it, you should pretend that you didn't. Just in case they scare you further or something like that.