Comments on: Hungry Ghost Festival

By: Marina’s Bloggariffic » Blog Archive » Dancing lions in a shopping center

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:34:59 +0000

[...] Hungry Ghost festival [...]

By: marina

marina — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 06:29:00 +0000

Give a big round of applause to xed, ladies and gentlemen! :D

Thank you! :D

By: Xed

Xed — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 21:04:00 +0000

Well, it is believed that everyone goes straight to hell for all the sins committed when they were alive. The ones (or saints)who has never committed a single sin in their lives supposedly becomes deities in heaven. Once the spirits have completed their ‘sentence’ in hell, they’ll be reincarnated into the mortal world again (no guarantees that you’ll come back as a human). Nonetheless, the 7th lunar month is a break for the nether world. Not only the tortured spirits get to come back to Earth, the ‘guards’ of hell come out for a ‘vacation’ as well. It is during this time, the chinese burn offerings for their ancestors. The chinese temples would organise activites to give offerings to the ‘guards’ and god of the underworld as well as to those wandering spirits who have no living relatives on Earth. Those ‘dinners’ and ‘getais’ (Chinese operas or mini-concerts) are held for 2 purposes, to entertain the spirits and guards as well as raise money for the needy.

But yar, Marina got it right, the chinese are merely paying their respects for the dead and the ‘minions’ from hell. Its also kind of like thanksgiving, we give thanks for being alive and help out those who are less fortunate. There’s actually more to this ‘festival’ but I’ll only confuse you more.

By: marina

marina — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 08:19:00 +0000

Erm … erm … erm … I’m not Taoist, and neither am I Chinese, so I can only retell from what people tell me and the things I see. Um … I dont know about the spirits that come from heaven. And I dont really think rewarding the soul of the dammed, more in rememberance and care for their loved ones that has passed on.(Xed, help me out here!)

I’ll see if I can ask a more knowledgable person in the meantime :)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 05:34:00 +0000

I don’t understand this hungry ghost festival. The gates of hell open? So people reward the souls of the damned?

What about spirits that come back from heaven? Do you celebrate that?

(I am not being rude, honest. I am just ignorant of this cultural festival and wonder why the souls are coming back from hell and why this is celebrated rather than feared?)

please let me know at happyshopgirl2003@hotmail.com or I will try to come back here to see if you’ve responded.

Thanks for listening!

By: marina

marina — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 03:12:00 +0000

Myztika : Nah, you're not insignificant :) I'm sure you will be remembered :)

Doee : When did I do that?

Xed : Oh, my mistake then! Yes, it'll be two months this year, but so far, no one has told me why it was so.

By: Xed

Xed — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 02:40:00 +0000

Marina, you got it wrong. Its a chinese tradition practiced mostly by taoists, not buddhists. Anyway, expect this year’s HGF to be longer than usual. I heardfrom my dad that its 2 month long this year…