Hungry Ghost Festival
中元節
Chinese legend has it that a long time ago, there lived a young man, Mu Lian and his
widowed mother. His mother was a wicked woman. She often turned away beggars
who came to her door asking for food. She liked to jeer at the working poor and their
dirty clothes; in essence, the only person she cared about was herself.
Mu Lian on the other hand was a kind soul. He was a gentle person and always
willing to help anybody who was in need. One day he decided to become a monk and
this did not please his mother. She scowled at him for being such a useless son; she
wanted him to go out and work to earn more money for her. Wealth and
materialistic things meant more to her than anything else.
When she saw that she could not dissuade her son, a plan began to hatch in her
mind. She decided to play a trick on the monks just to get back at them for taking
away her son. Now it was the custom to offer food to the monks (this custom still
exists to this very day), but only vegetarian food. Mu Lian
mother thought that it
was nonsensical that these monks did not eat meat, so one day she offered food to
some monks and slipped in some non-vegetarian items.
According to one version of the story, the wicked woman was punished immediately
and was sent to hell. Mu Lian wanted to save his mother
soul because he knew
her soul was suffering.
He set out and ventured deep into the bowels of hell. Soon he came upon his mother
and he saw that she was sitting a bed of very sharp pointy stakes and was holding
on to a basin of blood.
Mu Lian tried feeding her some food but the food would either turn into fire or blood.
It was hopeless: he couldn
do anything for her so he left. He returned home and
started to pray.
It is said that Buddha heard Mu Lian
prayers and was touched by Mu Lian
compassion. Thus Buddha decreed that once a year, the gates of hell be opened so
that the lost souls will be able to roam the earth and be fed. This is why every year
on the seventh day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, the Chinese
celebrate the festival of the hungry ghost. This is one of five major festivals in the
Chinese culture.
Food and drink will be offered at night outside the gates of houses. This is so that the
ghosts do not enter their houses and cause trouble. A traditional food made for this
festival is steamed sweet bread. Lanterns are lit to help guide the ghosts to the
feasts set out for them. Special paper money is also burned as offerings to these
ghosts so that they can take it back to hell and spend it there. To make sure that
these souls stay out of trouble, entertainment is set up round the clock, mainly
Chinese operas performed on outdoor stages.
Hungry Ghost Festival
Celebrated on the 15th day of the 7th Lunar month. On this day it is believed
that the "Gates of Hell" are opened and that the dead return to visit their living
relatives. . The Chinese feel that they have to satisfy the imprisoned and
hungry ghosts in order to get good fortune and luck in their lives.
Historically, families offer sacrifices of the newly harvested grain to
departed ancestors on this day, which also coincides with the Buddhist
Ullambana (Deliverance) Festival and the Taoist Ghost Festival (called
"Chung Yuan," in Taoist terminology). Since each of these traditions in
some way honors the spirits of the departed, the seventh lunar month
has come to be known as Ghost Month, celebrated as a time when the
"Good Brethren" (ghosts from the underworld) come back to earth to
feast on the victuals offered by the living. Over time the Ullambana
Festival and Ghost Festival have melded together to become the
present day Chung Yuan Putu or "Mid-origin Passage to Universal
Salvation."
The festival is celebrated with ceremonies at homes, temples,
associations, and guilds. Prayers are offered to the dead and offerings
of food such as chicken, vegetables, fruits, bean curd and white rice
are placed at street corners and roadsides to appease the spirits. This
is believed to prevent the wandering spirits from entering their homes
and causing disturbances in their households.
Offerings are also made by burning fake money notes, which are also
known as ‘hell money’ Some families also burn paper houses, cars
and even paper television or radio sets to give to their dead relatives.
The Chinese feel that these offerings reach the ghosts and help them
live comfortably in their world.
The 15th day of the 7th lunar month is Hungry Ghost Festival as well as Zhongyuan Festival, Yu Lan Pen
festival and ShiHu. It used to be a religious ceremony in India. The Buddhist would hold the Yu Lan Pen
Festival in memory of their forefathers. The Yu Lan Pen canon was compiled to encourage the
Buddhists' piety, so it went with the Chinese custom of commemorating their ancestors and became
popular in many Chinese regions. There was a popular folk tale about how the monk, MuNian, saved his
mother from suffering. MuNian had great magic power. One day his mother fell into the mouth of a
hungry ghost and turned into flames in endless suffering. MuNian had no idea to save his mother, so
he asked Buddha for help. Buddha told him the Yu Lan Pen canon and asked him to save his mother on
the 15th day of the 7th lunar month with the help of Yu Lan Pen.
China followed the custom since the Liang Dynasty (502-557 A.D.) and it was evolved into the present
Zhongyuan Festival. In addition to the fast provided for the monks, the present festival has special
sacrificial ceremonies.
When the festival sets in, a sacrificial alter and a chair is built for the Buddhist priest either at street
entrances or in front of villages. In front of the chair sets the statue of the King of Hell Di Zang. Under
it are plates of flour-made rice and peaches. On the sacrificial alter are three spirit tablets and three
funeral banners. After noon, pigs, sheep, chicken, geese and cakes, fruits of all kinds donated by
households are displayed on the alter. On every sacrifice the Buddhist priest will put a triangular paper
banner of three colors with special characters. After the rite gets started in solumn music, the priest will
strike the bell to call back the souls, other monks singing chimes of incantations. Then he will throw the
rice and peaches into the air in all directions to distribute them to the souls.
At night, incense is burnt in front of the door of each household. The more incense, the better, for the
amount of incense stands for the degree of prosperity. In some places, people flow water lanterns.
Such lanterns are made by setting a lotus flower-shaped lantern on a piece of board. According to the
Chinese tradition, the lanterns are used to direct the ghosts. Ghosts find their way back when the
lanterns are out. On the festival, all shops are closed to leave the street to the ghosts. In the middle of
each street, an alter of incense is set every 100 paces with fresh fruits and sacrifices displayed on it.
Behind the alter, the monks will sing songs that only the ghosts can understand. This rite is called shi
ge'r, meaning singing ghost songs.
Shangyuan Festival falls on the same day as Lantern Festival, when people hang out various beautiful
lanterns to celebrate the first full moon of the Lunar Year. Zhongyuan Festival follows Shangyuan
Festival. As the former is one for the ghosts, people think that they should also hang out lanterns to
celebrate for the ghosts. However, there is some differece. As human beings and land belong to yang,
which means positive, so ghosts and water belong to yin, which means negative. The dark and
mysterious underworld usually reminds us of the gloomy sepulchral hell where the ghosts suffer. So at
Shangyuan Festival, lanterns should be hung on land while those at Zhongyuan Festival should be
flown on waters.