Hell of a time

Month of the dead helps keep traditions alive

Living and working in China has been a life-changing experience for Peter Donovan. The 35-year-old Briton is popular with his students at the British international school in Shanghai partly because of his enthusiasm to hold all kinds of class activities. Halloween is a particularly popular time for students to have fun and learn about a Western festivity at the same time. But little did Donovan know that there is also a Chinese halloween - more commonly known as the Ghost Festival - until one night when he made his way back home and came across people burning paper at a road crossing.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the paper offerings were actually banknote-like stacks. The people burning them knelt in a circle drawn by chalk. They later threw stacks of coin-like paper offerings into the air as well.

The next day, Donovan's colleagues told him not to tread on the paper coin offerings because that would mean bad luck for him.

These were just some of the things to take note of during the Ghost Month, the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

"I thought the Chinese ghost festival was also a fun holiday like Halloween," Donovan says.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Chinese festival is a serious time to remember the dead and can be an intimidating ritual for the uninitiated.

The Ghost Festival falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month to commemorate departed spirits from the underworld who are believed to visit the living on that day.

Families light joss sticks and offer food and gifts in front of the memorial tablets of their departed ancestors on this day.

Meals are offered on tables with empty seats for each member of the dead coming back for a good meal as they join the living.

Taoists and Buddhists perform ceremonies to ease any resentment or pain suffered by the ghosts.

The Ghost month is also called the Month of the Hungry Ghosts, as people believe some spirits of the deceased will wander among the living looking for food.

On the first day of this month, the gates of hell are believed to open for ghosts and spirits to enter the world of the living.

Good-hearted ghosts use this time to visit their families, while malicious ones search out victims to capture their souls, making it a dangerous time of the year for the unknowing until the gates close at the end of the month.

People often burn paper money outside homes on the sidewalk, setting up makeshift altars so that wandering ghosts without families can also have some money to spend in the underworld.

The offerings are made so that the spirits will not become resentful at being left out and haunt people.

The offerings to these hungry ghosts are what distinguishes the Ghost Festival from the Tomb-Sweeping Festival, which focuses on ancestor worship.

In some regions, paper boats and lanterns are also released on water during the Ghost Festival to help give directions to the lost ghosts and spirits.

"The Ghost Month is the result of the combined beliefs of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism to help those wandering spirits to reincarnate into a next life or return to hell," says Liu Zhenze, a researcher at the China Folklore Society. "Today it still borders on very religious practices."

The Ghost Festival is closely linked with Buddhism beliefs about karma and reincarnation. Those who commit suicide or murder are believed to become unknown species hovering between the netherworld and the living, as the king of the underworld does not have their names registered in his books. The Ghost Month becomes an opportunity for these spirits to vent their grievances.

As such, people warn others from swimming in rivers during the month because many malevolent spirits will try to drown them. Activities such as traveling far away from home, strolling around at night, moving house or starting new businesses are also be avoided during this time.

It is also deemed unlucky to talk about ghosts during this month. Some people are so afraid of offending the spirits they do not even mention the word.

But on the last day of the month, the gates of hell close. On this day, people also burn paper offerings, place food and drink on tables for the ghosts to feast on for the last time this year.

Believers hope the ghosts can rest in peace in the underworld - until the next year.

At religious temples, Taoists chant incantations to the spirits and tell them it is time to "go back".

While many older believers lament the increasing number of young people who do not believe in these practices, most Chinese are known to take a moderate but vague view of them.

As always, Confucius perhaps summed it up best for many: "Respect ghosts and gods, but keep away from them."

zhanglei@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/03/2012 page24)