Hungry Ghost Festival

The Hungry Ghost Festival or Zhong Yuan Jie is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the 14th day in 7th lunar month.

In the Chinese tradition, the 7th month in the Chinese (lunar) calendar is called the Ghost Month in which ghosts and spirits come out from the lower world to visit earth. Activities at the festival include preparing ritualistic offering food, and burning hell money to please the visiting ghosts and spirits as well as deities and ancestors. Other activities include burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts. A very solemn festival, the festival nevertheless represents a connection between the living and the dead, earth and heaven as well as body and soul.

The festival has roots in the Buddhist festival, Ullambana, and also some from the Taoist culture. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a well-to-do merchant who eventually gave up his trade to become a Buddhist monk. He became one of the Buddha's chief disciples and his name was Mahāmaudgalyāyana.

After he attained the title of arhat, he thinks of his father and mother, and wonders what happens to them. He travelled over the known Buddhist universe, and found his father in heaven.

However, his mother was reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost-it could not eat because its throat was very thin and no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother was greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money.

It was for this reason she was reborn in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. He eventually saves her from this plight by battling various demons and entreating the help of the Buddha. The compromise that was made was one that owes to the relevance of the Ghost Festival and ancestor worship.

The Buddha instates a day after the traditional summer retreat (the 15th day of the 7th lunar month) as a day of prayer and offering in which monks can pray and make sacrifices on behalf of dead ancestors or hungry ghosts. The family members of the deceased essentially pay for this service, and thus their patronage is a form of charity. The deceased ancestors are pacified and hungry ghosts can eat (the sacrificial foods).

The story ends with this festival and the rescue of his mother from hell. She ended up being reborn as a dog, but as a pet in a well-off household.

Today, the exact same ritual that the Buddha asked for Mahamaudgalyayana to do is well practiced in many parts of Asia. The day of offering foods or money to monks is called Sangha Day, celebrated in many Buddhist temples. It marks the first day of the Hungry Ghost Festival.