oneworldtalk

XP · Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 642 Location: Beautiful Island

Just as Halloween is for Americans and the Christians' All-Souls Day, the 'Hungry Ghost festival' is an important Chinese cultural practice.

Hungry Ghost festival is a popular but solemn occasion that is taken seriously by many ethnic Chinese in Asia. This festival that falls on the 7th month of the lunar New Year (i.e., around August of the Gregorian calendar year) is celebrated mainly in Hongkong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore & Malaysia.

It is believed that during this month, the gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who then wander to seek food on Earth. Some even think that the ghosts would seek revenge on those who had wronged them in their lives.

Ritualistic include preparing food offering and burning hell money to please the visiting ghosts and spirits as well as deities and departed relatives. Some even burn paper television, car, mansion for their dead relatives to help them live comfortably in the other world. Other activities include burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies "giving directions to the lost ghosts". Hopefully, all this actions would appease the spirits and ward off ill luck.

The Chinese regard the 14th of the 7th lunar month as an important date to give a feast to the ghosts. On this date, the family will cook a lot of dishes and offer them to the deceased. This is done to please the ghosts and also to gain good luck for the family. 15 days after the feast, the festival will be over, as the Chinese believe that the ghosts return back to where they come from, and the Gates of Hells are shut once again until next year.

In Singapore, it is a common sight to see entertaining 'wayang' and 'getai' performances on outdoor stages in some residential areas. They believe that entertainment would please those wandering ghosts.

Superstitious Chinese would avoid risky activities such as swimming during the 7th month. They think that an evil ghosts lurking in the water could drag the swimmers' legs and cause them to drown. In addition to this, children are also advised to return home early and not to wander around alone at night for fear that the ghosts might possess the children. Most Chinese would not time surgeries and overseas travel during the seventh month.

Businesses enter a lull period during the seventh lunar month in countries with a sizeable Chinese population. Cars and property sales generally slow down.

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/hungry-ghost-month.htm

Most mainland Chinese, especially in urban areas and the younger generation do not follow the ghost month traditions. Many superstitions and traditional practices were stamped out during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution because the Communists frowned on them as relics of China's feudal past. Instead the mainland Chinese only commerate Qiqiao festival 'Chinese Valentine's Day' on the 7th lunar month. However, some rural farming communities preserve remnants of this tradition on a small scale, unlike the overseas Chinese.

- The above is adapted from a chain mail received from friends.

Other resources :

Taiwan : http://www.religionfacts.com/chinese_religion/holidays/ghost_festival.htm

Yue Lan in Hongkong : http://www.hkfastfacts.com/Chinese%20Festivals/ghost.htm

Please check out World Cultures Forum for other Chinese Festivals :

http://oneworldtalk.freeforums.org/chinese-festivals-t1562.html#5077

XP · Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 642 Location: Beautiful Island

Qingming Festival 清明节

Meaning Clear and Bright Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice (or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox), usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar (see Chinese calendar). Every leap year, Qing Ming is on April 4. Astronomically, it is also a solar term (See Qingming). In solar terms, the Qingming festival is on the 1st day of the 5th solar term, which is also named Qingming.

Its name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime (踏青 Tàqīng, "treading on the greenery"), and also to tend to the graves of departed ones.

It is an official public holiday in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Prior to 2008, the holiday was not official in the People's Republic of China since the Communist Party of China classified it as superstition. It was officially celebrated as a public holiday for the first time on April 4, 2008.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Ming_Festival

Story behind Qing Ming

The origins of Cold Food festival and sweeping of ancestral graves.

http://www.nychinatown.com/qing_ming_festival.htm