Everything You Need to Know About this Year's Ghost Festival in Beijing, Aug 17
We've hardly caught our breath since Chinese Valentine’s Day, and now hot on its heels, threatening to destroy all of that romance, comes China's Ghost Festival (中元节, zhōngyuán jié), which falls on August 17 this year. Ghost Festival has Taoist beginnings and its Buddhist incarnation, Ullambana (盂兰节, yúlán jié) or the Hungry Ghost Festival, is also celebrated on the same day in countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.
In China, Ghost Day falls the 15th day of seventh lunar month, and the whole seventh lunar month is refered to as Ghost Month. Unlike Tomb-Sweeping Day (清明节, qīngmíng jié), during which ancestors pay homage to the deceased, Ghost Festival is more similar to Halloween, and the Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos). Taoists and Buddhists believe that, in the seventh lunar month, ghost and spirits rise up from the lower realm and visit the living as honored guests. On the fifteenth day, the gates of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living simultaneously open, allowing for entities to move freely between each and wreak havoc if they do so wish.
There are taboos that one must avoid so as to not anger the ghosts and cause misfortune during this time, such as staying out too late on the evening of Ghost Day, as spirits have a tendency to follow people home. You must also not stand under the shade of a tree; don’t go swimming or engage in any water-related activities (oops, good luck Olympic swimmers); avoid forests, hiking or camping; don’t pick up any strange items from the street, especially coins; if someone taps you on the shoulder or calls your name from behind, don’t turn around or answer; don’t whistle at night; don’t talk about ghosts or tell ghost stories; don’t wear black or red, and avoid high heels(?); don’t hang wet clothes at night, because the ghosts will “try” the clothes on; and don’t open umbrellas indoor at night, according to Says.
Scary? Well, perhaps only if you're fond of black or red high heels. One positive of Ghost Month is that it's perhaps the festival in the world that eschews capitalist greed and shopping so as to respect your less well-off ancestors. Buddhists and Taoists will perform ceremonies on the evening of Ghost Day, preparing offerings such as food, wine and tea, burning incense, as well as burning joss paper on the streets. People who live near bodies of water may buy and release miniature paper boats or lanterns to release on lakes or rivers, so as to “give directions” to the lost ghosts and spirits of their ancestors.
So don't be alarmed if you see your neighbors trying to set fire to what appears to be a pile of trash – it's all in the name of ancestral piety.
