The Hungry Ghost Festival

The Hungry Ghost Festival is a month of remembering the dead in Chinese communities, with its main night in the middle of the seventh lunar month. It mixes Buddhist, Taoist, and folk beliefs. This article explains what it is and what people do. Beliefs and customs vary by community, tradition, and family. This article gives general guidance. Families should consult their own temple or elders.

What is the festival?

Wikipedia says the Ghost Festival is held on the 15th night of the seventh month of the Chinese calendar, or the 14th in parts of southern China. The whole seventh month is called Ghost Month. During it, ghosts and spirits, including the spirits of ancestors, are believed to come out. Buddhists call it the Yulanpen or Ullambana festival, and Taoists call it Zhongyuan. Because the lunar calendar shifts, the date changes each year, and sources disagree on exact dates for a given year, so check a current calendar.

Who are the hungry ghosts?

In Buddhist belief, they are beings reborn in a realm of constant hunger. The festival’s origin story comes from the Ullambana Sutra. The Buddha’s disciple Maudgalyayana, called Mulian in Chinese, finds that his dead mother has been reborn in the hungry ghost realm. When he gives her rice, it turns into burning coal. The Buddha explains that offerings to the community of monks on the 15th day of the seventh month, at the end of their summer retreat, can help one’s parents, including those of seven past lives. See Merit-Making and Buddhist Mourning.

Where does the festival come from?

From more than one source. Wikipedia says that as a Taoist festival, Zhongyuan took shape under the “Three Yuan” idea and flourished in the Tang dynasty, when rulers favored Taoism. As a Buddhist festival it comes from the Yulanpen Sutra. The Samye Institute says the seventh month is seen as a month for gathering merit through generosity.

Scholars debate the sutra itself. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, quoted by the Encyclopedia of Buddhism, says it is generally presumed to be a Chinese work written in the fourth or fifth century and included in the Chinese canon by the sixth. A 2023 book from Anthem Press argues that it is a creative translation of Indian material. Wikipedia’s Obon article says the Ghost Festival was a major influence on Japan’s Obon. See Obon.

What do people do?

Wikipedia describes preparing food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a paper form of money, clothing, and other goods meant for visiting spirits. Altars are built for the dead. Priests and monks perform rituals for the ghosts, and often throw rice or small foods into the air in all directions to feed them. Singapore’s National Heritage Board adds that offerings to wandering spirits may be left along roadsides and other transitory places.

What is getai?

It is live entertainment during Ghost Month, held especially in Singapore and Malaysia. The Singapore National Heritage Board says the performances entertain the ghosts, and that the front row of seats is left empty for them. Everyday People SG says getai performances are held in housing estates, neighborhood open spaces, and near temples.

Are there taboos?

Many people observe some. Singapore sources mention not stepping on or kicking roadside offerings and not sitting in the front row at getai. These sources also stress that people differ: some take part in prayers and offerings, some follow only a few customs, and some do not observe the festival at all.

Is it changing?

In places, yes. The Singapore National Heritage Board says the festival there has evolved over time. Burning joss paper has become a topic of public discussion in Malaysia and Singapore, according to SAYS Malaysia, which reports that Singapore’s authorities have tried to balance tradition with environmental and social concerns.

What do we still not know?

The sutra’s origin is debated, and the festival looks different in different places. The Singapore and Malaysia sources we used describe those places, and customs elsewhere may differ. The taboos come from popular accounts and are not rules shared by everyone.

Where can I learn more?

See Qingming: Tomb-Sweeping in Chinese Tradition, Chinese Funeral Traditions, and Shinto and Taoist Funeral Traditions.