The Dreaded Hungry Ghost Month

The hungry ghost month is one of the most famous Chinese festivals, other than Chinese New Year and Moon Cake Festival. It also happens to be one of the most dreaded festival and month. I dread it alright...it also means the beginning of my asthma season with all the burning of joss paper under my window...

The seventh lunar month in the traditional Chinese calendar is called Ghost Month. On the first day of the month, the Gates of Hell are sprung open to allow ghosts and spirits access to the world of the living. The spirits spend the month visiting their families, feasting and looking for victims.

There are three important days during Ghost Month. On the first day of the month, ancestors are honored with offerings of food, incense, and ghost money - paper money which is burned so the spirits can use it. These offerings are done at makeshift altars set up on sidewalks outside the house.

Almost as important as honoring your ancestors, offerings to ghosts without families must be made, so that they will not cause you any harm. Ghost month is the most dangerous time of the year, and malevolent spirits are on the look out to capture souls.

This makes ghost month a bad time to do activities such as evening strolls, traveling, moving house, or starting a new business. Many people avoid swimming during ghost month, since there are many spirits in the water which can try to drown you.

The 15th day of the month is Ghost Festival, sometimes called Hungry Ghost Festival.  This is the day when the spirits are in high gear. It’s important to give them a sumptuous feast, to please them and to bring luck to the family. Taoists and Buddhists perform ceremonies on this day to ease the sufferings of the deceased.

The last day of the month is when the Gates of Hell are closed up again. The chants of Taoist priests inform the spirits that it’s time to return, and as they are confined once again to the underworld, they let out an unearthly wail of lament.

And during this month, there are a lot of beliefs and superstitions … there are lots of things you should not do…. things like…

DO NOT…

01. Hang out late

02. Spit in the street or tree (half the bloody Singaporeans have this bad habit of spitting so I hope when they do during this month, the ghosts will slap their mouth crooked)

03. Step on or kick offering items / joss sticks along the roadside (I won’t kick those but can I kick the ones who put it there?)

04. Make funny jokes or comments on any display altar / offering items along the street

05. Open your umbrella at night, especially red color type (So even if it rains, you better not open your umbrella at night especially if it is red! Doesn’t make sense this one)

06. Wear red color costume with high heels and walk alone at night (Seriously!?!)

07. Pick up any unique items found on the street or road

08. Stand Under a Tree in the middle of the night

09. Hang your clothes out in the middle of the night

10. Answer or respond when someone calls you, especially from behind (so ladies if you’re in doggie position and your partner calls your name from behind, don’t answer!)

11. Turn your head when someone pat on your shoulders in the middle of the street (can I swing and punch?)

12. Use any Dark or Black color manicure (oops!)

13. Comb your hair in front of the mirror in the middle of the night (Do you know of any one who would wake up in the middle of the night just to brush their hair?)

14. Leave your bleeding wounds in a open air; always cover up the area with plasters or other bandage materials (Ladies, if you’re having your period, you better stopper your vagina)

15. Swim in the pool or lake in the middle of the night

16. Play at the playground in the middle of the night; especially the swings

My apologies for cracking some jokes but in all honesty, at times we have to be cautious and try to believe. Obviously some things are just ridiculous just by the sound of it, but some do make sense. So my advice, try to listen to the old folks.

I have honestly seen with my own eyes, EVIL and I do BELIEVE they exist. Of course during this month, it may get a little out of hand with these ghosts and spirits but every other day, there are still lots of evil around you.

But here’s my list of NOT TO DO things during this month or any other days when it concerns religion or beliefs….

DEBRA’S DO NOT DO LIST…

1. DO NOT burn your joss papers and what nots on the grass (grass are living things), drains (so it clogs up the water flow and breed mosquitos), pavements so it blocks the pathway for people to walk and makes it look so unsightly with the burn marks. You should be charged for vandalizing.

2. DO NOT burn under peoples’ windows and smoke them out of their own homes.

3. DO NOT leave your papers, offerings, etc, scattered all over the place and clean up after yourself. That SHOULD be considered littering and you should be fined.

4. DO NOT complain during the next haze season because you do the same to the environment by doing what you do

5. DO NOT pull the barrels under the shaded areas when it rains

… and my WISH list

1. The authorities would take this into consideration and be more strict with where these people pray or burn their things. They should be fined for the mess they leave behind as it is considered littering. If we accidentally tossed a piece of paper, we would have gotten a fine, right?

2. I wish they wouldn’t keep using religion as an excuse to close both eyes on what really is happening

3. They should move the barrels to open spaces so it doesn’t smoke residents out of their own home as it’s a health hazard especially to those with respiratory problems. And fine the people who does not obey the law about burning responsibly.

4. They should start providing those new bins to every estate ASAP to prevent the smoke from suffocating people and papers from flying everywhere….

5. Higher conservancy fees to be charged to these folks because the cleaners clean up more of their mess every month than the regular folks’.

6. That all these prayer stuff be kept in their place of worship.

So there!!  

Keep safe everyone. Those with asthma and such, make sure you keep a mask in your bag….and try not to be a victim of these hungry ghosts!