What is Hungry Ghost Festival?

Hungry Ghost Festival

The Ghost Festival or Hungry Ghost Festival, also known as the
Zhongyuan Festival in Taoism and Yulanpen Festival in
Buddhism.

According to the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival
is on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar and the
seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month , during
which ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come out
from the lower realm (diyu or preta). During the Hungry Ghost Festival,
the deceased are believed to visit the living.

Traditionally, the mid-summer Ghost Festival falls at the same time as a
full moon, the new season, the fall harvest, the return of ancestors, and the
gathering of the local community. On the fifteenth day the gates of the
afterlife are opened and the spirits of ancestors return to walk amongst the
living. These wandering spirits are referred to as “hungry ghosts,” since
they’re believed to be restless and in need of comfort.

While some associate the Hungry Ghost Festival with Halloween” some
call the festival Chinese Halloween” the main goal is to honor the dead
through spiritual, symbolic and cultural rituals. This goes beyond the act of
appeasing spirits. It reminds us to honor and respect our ancestors in a time
of reunion and remembrance, strengthening the sacred connection between
the living and the deceased. It fosters a sense of unity and continuity.

Most importantly, the festival promotes compassion and generosity. The
Hungry Ghost Festival™s broader message is for people to look after
wandering souls (whether a lonely neighbor or a lost spirit roaming the
living world), to respect elders, and to value their family. It is customary to
distribute food, clothes, and other necessities to those in need, both as acts
of charity and to provide for wandering spirits. These gestures of kindness
are also ways to accumulate merit and ensure blessings for oneself and
one’s family in the future.

In 2011, the Hungry Ghost Festival was recognized on the third national list
of China™s intangible cultural heritage. Its roots date back more than 2,000
years and it is celebrated both by Buddhists and Taoists.

Hungry Ghost Festival Origins
The name relates to the concept of the hungry ghost, the Chinese
interpretation of the term preta in Buddhism. Traditionally in China, when
a person passes away, it is up to the remaining family to pay their respects
and provide food to the deceased. When this doesnt happen, the spirits are
considered homeless and their throats will shrink to the size of a needle.
Any food that they attempt to eat will catch on fire in their mouths.

However, during the Ghost Month, Taoist and Buddhist deities will
extinguish the fire and expand their throats, allowing them to eat.
Chinese believe that on the days of Ghost Month and especially on the
night of the full moon, there is a bridge between the dead and the living.
Ceremonies are traditionally performed to protect the living from attacks or
pranks by the ghosts and to honor and worship their spirits.

It is believed that the ghosts of the dead can help and protect the living. The Hungry
Ghost month is a sacred tradition that offers a way to reconnect to those
weve lost. Its both a celebration and a serious tradition that natives and
tourists can respect and enjoy.

Taoist/Daoist traditions
Hungry Ghost/Zhongyuan month for Taoists relates to Di Guan Da Di, one
of the Three Yuan (officials) also known as “Lords of the Three Realms.”
On his birthday on the 15th of the seventh lunar month, this Middle Official
(Zhongyuan) descends to Earth, to do an inventory of all the bad and good
things people have done.

During the Hungry Ghost festival month, Taoist Priests aid the spirits that
enter the realm of the living. They perform rites to calm the ghosts down
and offer food. Temple devotees come to profess their sins and ask for
forgiveness. This activity might be an appropriate at Thien Hau Temple, (
Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu in Vietnamese and as Tiān Hòu Gōng in
Chinese).

Buddhist traditions
For Buddhists, the Hungry Ghost Festival has another name: Yu Lan Pen or
Buddhist Ullambana Festival. The Buddhist origin story originates from
ancient India, deriving from the Mahayana scripture known as the
Yulanpen or Ullambana Sutra. This sutra records the time when
Maudgalyayana/Mulian achieved abhij and used his newfound powers to
search for his deceased parents. It is said that after going through
innumerable trials and hardships in the nether world, Mulian finally found
his mother in the realm of hungry ghosts. Mulian tried to feed his starving
mother’s spirit, but the food was snatched away by the hungry ghosts.
Mulian asked Buddha for assistance.

Moved by his filial piety, Buddha presented Mulian with the Ullambana
Sutra and told him to create an Ullambana Feast on July 15 of the lunar
calendar. On that day, food of various kinds as well as five fruits —
peaches, plums, apricots, chestnuts and dates — should be provided to all
Buddhist monks, who would transfer their spiritual merit to benefit the
spirits of the deceased.

Under the instruction of the Ullambana Sutra, Mulian also filled the
Ullambana vessel with fruits and vegetarian food to offer as a sacrifice to
his mother. His starving mother ghost finally had food.

Buddhist doctrine also teaches that by making offerings on the festival day,
deceased parents and relatives can be saved from bad situations in the
afterlife. The Ullambana Festival of Buddhism has two meanings. One is to
persuade people to provide for Buddhist monks. The other is to convince
people to do more charitable deeds to release departed souls from sin and to
advocate family devotion.

Observances
Like people all over the world, Chinese have special customs concerning
the dead and their ghosts that are thousands of years old. The popular folk
religion called Taoism/Daoism includes days for interacting with errant
ghosts on earth. When they visit in the seventh month of the lunar calendar,
special precautions and ceremonies are necessary.

Families perform special ceremonies such as putting the ancestral tablets on
a table, burning incense in front of old portraits and photographs, and
preparing food three times that day. 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. Families also feast on this night, and they might leave a place
open at the table for a lost ancestor. People trust that the ghosts won’t do
something terrible to them or curse them after eating their sacrifices and
accepting their money.

There are temple ceremonies, street ceremonies, and market ceremonies. At
temple ceremonies, monks in temples organize festive activities. Many
believe it is important to appease the ghosts. Taoist monks chant to free the
ghosts from suffering. It is believed that these spirits have unfulfilled
desires and seek comfort, offerings, and prayers from the living.
Buddhists and Taoists hold ceremonies in the afternoon or at night, to
release the ‘ghosts’ of their ancestors from the suffering by feeding them
with the symbolic food of compassion.

Monks and priests often also throw
rice or other small foodstuffs into the air to feed the ghosts.
And as if satisfying the ghosts appetites for money and food wasnt
enough, taking care of their entertainment is also important. A mainstay of
the festival is the getai performance, thrown as a popular mode of
entertainment for the wandering spirits (literally song stage in Chinese, or
live stage performances), which feature tales of gods and goddesses, bawdy
stand-up comedy, as well as song and dance numbers.

Getai (歌台, tr. ‘song stage’) Performances
Getai performances are a prominent feature of the Ghost Festival in
Singapore and Malaysia. Those live concerts are popularly known as Getai
in Mandarin or Koh-tai in Hokkien Chinese. They are performed by groups
of singers, dancers, entertainers and opera troops or puppet shows on
temporary stages. The shows are always put on at night and at high
volumes as the sound is believed to attract and please the ghosts.
Traditionally Chinese opera was the main source of entertainment but more
modern shows, concerts, dramas now constitute Getai.

During these Getai the front row is left empty for the special guests”the
visiting deities and spirits. It is known to be bad luck to sit on the front row
of red seats, if anyone were to sit on them, they would become sick or
similarly unwell. Everyone is welcome”so sit back and enjoy the show.
Just remember not to sit in the front row, unless you want to rub shoulders
with the special guests.