Comments on: Hungry Ghost Festival

By: Reminder : Don’t bump into hungry ghosts tonight hor? | The Obnoxious 5xmom

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:02:41 +0000

[...] (more about Hungry ghost festival) [...]

By: Fascinate with ghosts? Read on….. | The Obnoxious 5xmom

Fascinate with ghosts? Read on….. | The Obnoxious 5xmom — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:13:25 +0000

[...] ghosts[/tag] and will show over it’s channels all sorts of ghost stories during the Chinese Hungry Ghosts festival month. One about Haunting was shown on Discovery Channel and right now, another one on Star World [...]

By: Perayaan Hantu Lapar | The Obnoxious 5xmom

Perayaan Hantu Lapar | The Obnoxious 5xmom — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:10:46 +0000

[...] Tetapi, tahun ini spesel sikit. Saya akan terang kepada semua apa itu Perayaan Hantu Lapar atau Hungry Ghost Festival di [...]

By: masak-masak: Hungry Ghost Festival

masak-masak: Hungry Ghost Festival — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:51:03 +0000

[...] Sorry about the late postings as I seem to have problems posting to Blogger this morning. I finished this post and when I published it, the connection hung on me and I lost all my data. The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is 19 August this year. Usually the Cantonese will offer prayers to the ghosts on the eve before the actual date while the Teochews and Hokkiens celebrate on the night of the festival. A week before the festival date, there will be entertainment shows for the ghosts and the living that range from karaoke sessions, dancing and Chinese opera performances. Paper effigies and altars are also erected under temporary tents for people to pray and worship the ghosts. If you do attend any of these performances, never sit in the front seats as these are always reserved for the ghosts. For more on what the altars and the performances look like, please refer to Lilian from Malaysia Best who has excellent pictures on them. The celebration of this festival is from an amalgamation of beliefs of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and traditional religious teachings. The Taoist believe the soul has a yin element called the kui (devil) and a yang element called the shen (spirit). Upon death, the shen remains within the grave while the kui returns to earth to roam it. The Chinese believe heavily in filial piety which includes worshipping their ancestors’ graves or else calamity with strike the family. If this is neglected, the kui is said to become a hungry ghost that will cause trouble among the living. The Chinese interpret the spirit world as a parallel universe to earth where the spirits enjoy food, money and material items just like we do on earth. Hence to appease these spirits and as a way to pay respect to our ancestors, food is served on altars and paper offerings are burnt to send them over to the spirit world. These buns shaped as mandarin oranges and peaches with chinese lettering are some of the food items offered to the hungry ghosts. Lilian from Malaysia Best has blogged about another type of bun that is also offered to them. [...]

By: 5xmom » The Hungry Ghosts and how haze affects them

5xmom » The Hungry Ghosts and how haze affects them — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 07:41:58 +0000

[...] I had been wondering what our local Penang folks are going to do with the worsening haze because Hungry Ghosts festival is going on full swing here. Every village, small town, pekan and even Gurney Drive have the offerings for Hungry Ghosts. Joss sticks which are about 8-10 feet high are often lined up in rows and the burning of the effigies of the gods of hades usually take place, causing big bon-fire. [...]