'Hungry Ghost Festival', Zhongyuan Jie

After Chinese New Year, the annual Hungry Ghost Festival (Zhong Yuan) is perhaps the next most popular celebration among the Chinese.

It began in the Age of Fragmentation as the Ullambana (Yulanpeng) feast on the 15th day (full moon) of the 7th lunar month, held to commemorate the Buddhist legend of Moggallana (Mulian), who descended to hell to save his deceased mother's soul. The feast was held to give food to pretas, or Hungry Ghosts - spirits who had been reborn in hell because of their misdeeds and suffered from thirst and hunger there. This corresponded with pre-Buddhist Chinese views of the afterlife, in which offerings could be made to the dead in the Underworld in the form of food or other items.

The Hungry Ghost Festival also known as Feast of the Wandering Souls, is an inauspicious time. The tradition developed that during the 7th month, the spirits in the Underworld would actually be released into the mortal world to feed on food offerings. Hungry ghosts may prey on the living out of anger and resentment.

All spiritual festivals come with its fair share of urban legends and a list of do's and don'ts. Most commonly, the old folks will advise the youngsters not to stay out too late for fear of an encounter with harmful spirits since these spirits are considered most powerful at night. Weddings are not held in this month, and ghost stories of mishaps and ill fortune circulate to keep the living alert. Children are particularly vulnerable, and parents take care to prevent them from swimming in the open sea or camping in forests, for example.

Therefore, to appease this legion of anonymous ghosts, offerings are made outside of Chinese homes at nearby road junctions, country lanes, and open spaces, but care is also taken not to invite them into the homes.

Neighborhood groups and clan and trade associations have more elaborate celebrations lasting for a few days. Temporary sheds are built in open spaces to house anumber of deities. These deities are made of papiermache and are burnt at the end of the festival.

The chief of these deities—called Phor Tor Kong in Hokkien—is the keeper of purgatory, who keeps a watchful eye over the wandering ghosts. Preparations for the Hungry Ghost festival start at the beginning of the month, building to a climax with much feasting on the fifteenth day. Sumptuous feasts are provided to fete both deities and ghosts. An assortment of meat dishes, rice, noodles, sweet cakes, fruits, wine, and other drinks, as well as joss sticks, paper money, and paper clothes, are laid to appease these spirits. Additionally, entertainment is provided in the form of traditional Chinese opera, live singing bands, and open-air film showings.

Here are a list of things to look out for if you are visiting the festival for the first time:

- Do not eat the delicacies used as offerings, unless otherwise served. It may be tempting to pick up a piece of fruit at these festivals but avoid this at all cost. These offerings are meant for the spirits and urban legend has seen many cases of mysterious illness striking the people who have pinched such offerings.

- Do not sit in the front row at the Getais (entertainment venues). These are strictly reserved for the VIPs aka Hungry Ghosts- Try to avoid stepping on burnt offerings. Chinese believe that burning items is the only way for spirits to receive offerings in the netherworld. Hence, it is believed that the area where the burning takes place becomes an "opening" to the netherworld and stepping on such an "opening" might subject one to ghostly possession.

- Avoid swimming at night during this month. It is believed that hungry ghosts lurk in the dark waters at night, increasing the risk of drowning.

Urban legends and festivities aside, this month-long event is also a time for children to show their filial piety. The more 'orthodox' Chinese Buddhists emphasise that it is a filial duty to make sacrifices "just in case" one's parent or ancestor was reborn in hell for some unknown misdeed. In these huge banquets the seats are marked with the names of deceased people, and are purchased by their surviving relatives with donations. For those who can afford it, priests may be hired to chant prayers to petition the gods and further assist the ancestors.

It seems that this is a culture now restricted to Chinese outside the PRC. When I asked a friend living in Beijing a few years ago if she had heard of the Zhongyuan festival, she said she had not. The only 7th month festival she was aware of was the 'Chinese Valentine's Day' on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month - the Qiqiao festival of the Cow Herd and the Weaver Girl.

Appeasing the roaming spirits aside, I think the Hungry Ghost Festival is a meaningful tradition where people take time out to remember those who have left.