THE HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL | 14TH OF THE SEVENTH LUNAR MONTH

Who here is a fan of Halloween? If Halloween is the holiday associated with the supernatural in western culture, then the equivalence in Chinese culture would be The Hungry Ghost Festival. Not much creativity there with the name to be honest. Although the name is simple and straightforward, the holiday has very interesting customs and taboos. Its origin is also a good story to tell. But the most captivating aspect would be the spine-chilling experiences people had during the festival. Since one of the taboos is to not think or tell scary stories when the festival is near, today we will focus on the origin, customs, and taboos. If you want a short collection of those hair-raising stories, message us or comment on our social media posts (insert Instagram/facebook/twitter link).

Background

The Hungry Ghost Festival is held on the 14th (according to my family and relatives) or 15th (according to Google) of the seventh lunar month. This year (2023) it will fall on August 29th or 30th. It is also called Yu Lan Jie 盂蘭節, Zhong Yuan Jie 中元節, or Yu Lan Pen Jie 盂蘭盆節. On this day, the door to the underworld will fully open and ghosts of those who passed will roam our land. This is also known as their “holiday vacation”. 

The Origin

Yu Lan Jie or Zhong Yuan Jie, originated from Taoism. (It was later on named The Hungry Ghost Festival by Buddhists.)

The holiday commemorates the legend of Mulian. Mulian is a powerful monk who is virtuous and filial. His mother, on the other hand, is stingy and greedy. In punishment for her sins, she is sent to the most painful purgatory in the afterlife where she is starved and tortured. Mulian cannot stand to see his mother in pain and decided to help her by sending her fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, his offerings turns into ash as soon as it gets near her mouth. In despair, he seeks the help of Buddha. 

Now there are two versions in how Buddha responds. One is that Buddha advises him to go offer food and new robes to all monks. In gratitude, all the monks pray and his mother finally gets fed. Another is that Buddha gives him a bowl called Yu Lan Pen (Yu Lan Bowl). This bowl prevents the food from getting stolen or turning to ash, allowing it to safely reach his mother. No matter which version, this legend reflects the Chinese value of filial piety. Ancient Chinese people deeply believed in spirits and gods. This is their way to spread Chinese culture and value for generations.

Customs

• Make Food Offerings

As per the name of the Festival, the spirits from the underworld are crossing over with hunger. In order to keep them happy, people will make food offerings. This can range from peanuts and fruits to fully cooked dishes. In the case of family dinner, some seats will be left empty around the dining table for the supernatural members of the family that come back for a visit.

• Burn Incense and Joss Paper

As night falls, people will burn incense and joss paper on the side of the road for ancestors and passing spirits. These act as a form of energy and currency respectively in the underworld allowing spirits to live more comfortably on the other side. 

• Set Up Altars

Altars are set up for spirits who do not have families who give them offerings. You would usually find them in the center of the festival next to the performance stages. It is believed that there will be many “friends” (as we call them 老友記 in Cantonese) standing near the altar to enjoy the offerings. 

• Hold Performances

Essentials of a festival are of course food and entertainment. Food comes in the form of offerings while performances are given in the form of Chinese opera. (We might release a post about that soon as there are very interesting concepts to this art form.) These performances are usually given several times a day. There will be a few performances that do not welcome you. The performers will be performing to “empty” rows of seats. Or so you thought…

• Release Lanterns

This is definitely the least creepy and most beautiful part of the festival. Lanterns are released into the night sky and along a river (if there is one). There are two sayings as to why lanterns are released into the sky. The first is that the lanterns represent bad fortune and releasing them means to bring them away. So they hate when their lantern falls back into their property. The second saying is that the lanterns will light the way for ancestors to ascend to the heavens. Releasing lanterns into the river is an act of balancing the Yin and Yang energies. As humans are Yang, ghosts are Yin, earth is Yang and water is Yin, humans releasing light into the river will balance out the Yin the water.

Taboos

• Do not step on joss paper or other burnt leftovers on the side of the road

There might be spirits nearby picking them up. Stepping on them might get on their bad side and you would never know what bad fortune might come upon you.  👻

• Try to stay in doors when night falls on the 14th day of the seventh lunar month

As this is the day that most spirits will roam our world, you might see things that you don’t want to see. It is best to stay in and avoid late night outs.

• Do not say the world “鬼” (ghost)

You never know who might be listening in. They will know that you are talking about them if you mention the word. They love to know what you think and if you express fear, the mischievous ones may take actions to make those fears come true.

• Do not tap someone of their shoulders (and do not let others do that to you)

There are said to be three bundles of fire. One on each of our shoulders and the last on our foreheads. These represent our Yang energy. Since ghosts are Yin, they tend to stay away from Yang energies. If someone taps you on your shoulder, they might have put out your fire. It can make you more susceptible to attracting unwanted “friends”.

• Do not stick your chopsticks vertically to your bowl of rice.

It resembles burning incense, and ghosts might misunderstand that as your food offering. If you do not want to share your food with a supernatural friend, don’t stick your chopsticks vertically into your rice. (It’s bad table manners anyway.)

• Do not take pictures at night.

You might capture things that you don’t want in the picture.

There are many more taboos that you can look up, but these are the few main ones. All in all, this is a very interesting part of Asian culture. (I know that Japan also has this holiday, but the customs are very different.) Anyways, we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet and it’s already this interesting. Tell us if you want a following blog post of the bone-chilling stories people have about the Hungry Ghost Festival. 

You can also look up videos on Youtube as many people told their own horror experiences. But most if not all are in Chinese. Fear not my friends, we have a mountain load of resources that you can use to learn Chinese quickly and effectively right here on Inspirlang.com. Check them out below!

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