Hungry Ghost Festival: Halloween in Asia

My second favorite Chinese holiday just happened and I arrived to work smelling of fire and incense. It’s a bad time to be asthmatic, although, if you’re asthmatic and in Asia, you’re pretty much screwed anyway. For one month, the gates of hell are opened and spirits trapped there are free to wander the streets eating their fill and causing mischief. From Chinese mythology, the holiday starts with the story of a mother and son. The mother was wicked and when she died, found herself in hell. As in any good hell, the spirits are punished every day and not allowed food or drink.

However, the son was very good and became God (or at least one of them) when he passed on. In life, he had loved his mother very much and with his new powers, asked that the gates of hell be opened for one month every year so that the spirits could rest and eat. The son’s request was granted and Ghost Month began.

Ghost Month takes place during the middle of the Chinese lunar calendar, around August or September. In the middle of the month, when the gates of hell are completely open: festivals, parades and offerings are made to the ghosts and the gods as well. Families and local businesses set up shrines outside on the sidewalks and in the alleys, making the entire city smell like fire and incense. At night, the festivities continue with parades and celebrations at neighborhood temples. The biggest Ghost Month festival in northern Taiwan is in Keelung where hundreds of lanterns are released into the water at midnight.

The local shrines set up by families are made of incense, food and fire. The incense is meant to attract the spirits while the food is supposed to satisfy them and keep them from causing mischief. Families will set out a variety of things, but Oreos, chicken, pork, rice and noodles seem to be the most popular items of choice. When asked their favorite thing to feed the ghosts of hell, my class of six-year-olds proudly proclaimed “Oreos!”

The little fires you see at shrines are for burning ghost money, which ghosts will then be able to use in the afterlife. Although, I’m not sure what there is to buy in hell. There’s no food or water after all, but maybe they can bribe torturers for kinder punishments, such as replacing spiked whips with feathered ones.

As with any good supernatural holiday, Ghost Month also comes with a list of superstitious rules. In fact, the first person I asked to explain this holiday said that it exists because the Chinese are scared of everything. You’re not supposed to wear black (whoops), go out late at night, hike tall mountains or go near any bodies of water (during one of the hottest months of the year, yeah right). Actually, it’s a good time to be a foreigner, because all of the best hiking and swimming spots SHOULD be deserted; emphasis on should, because younger generations don’t seem to pay much attention to these rules.

Many compare Ghost Month to the western holiday “Halloween,” which is accurate except it lasts for one month instead of one day and little kids don’t get to run around terrorizing neighborhoods. Overall, Ghost Month is a time to pay respect to the dead. However, it is not to be compared with Tomb Sweeping Day, which is more about remembering family and less about feeding the ghosts of hell. Western culture probably has something to learn from both of these holidays though as it has no such days that emphasize a person’s relationship with the dead. Besides, who wouldn’t want a break from hell?