Today is the 15th day of the 7th moon in the Lunar Calendar. Yes, it means that today was the renowned Spirit Festival (Ghost Festival). Since we belong to a Fukien family, we celebrate at 15th, instead of 14th. During the Spirit Festival, we burn paper money (I think they call this “Hell Money” or something) to give to our ancestors and burn incense with them together with the usual set of food laid down for blessings. Oh, and Spirit Festival is also known as Chinese Halloween.
According to traditions, at the strike of 11:00 pm of the 7th Moon, the gates of the underworld would slowly open giving way to the spirits and ghosts to roam around the living world. And it will close again at the end of the 7th moon. That is why most Chinese businessmen do not invest in any sort of business during this month. Because they believed that the Ghost Month could drag in bad luck for their business.
And a few notes:
In Lunar Calendar (Chinese Calendar), midnight starts at 11:00 pm and not 12:00 am. Like the Gregorian Calendar, there are also 12 months in the Lunar Calendar, and as it was in the tradition of the Babylonian Calendar, there are also 7 days in a week. But the days in a month only counts to 29 and 30, unlike in Gregorian Calendar which counts to 30 and 31. Also, every 2 or 3 years, there would be a 13th month (leap year?).
So, let’s celebrate together and dance with the dead! Woot! :love: :love:
14 Comments
Fawesome. ๐
What “usual set of food” do you offer to these “hungry ghosts?” Does that include tikoy or something?
Happy Chinese Halloweenie! ๐
Usually, it’s fruits. ๐
But it’s different during new years. We offer meat, rice, veggies, etc. It’s usually more than 6 different types of cuisine. Oh and there should also be liquor.
When I die, I want to come back as a hungry ghost. Free food! Yay! ^_^
I actually love things like this. I mean, one thing is being compared to another and slight similarities and differences are sighted. ^_^
Hmm.. Euri, did you also learn using WordPress via the site you gave me? Just being curious. ๐
Wow. That looks fun. Doing rituals and stuff. Jeez, I love to explore Asia. ๐ <3
Ah..so the Chinese Halloween is earlier than the Western Halloween. Pero late kayo nag-niNew Year! Haha
Western Holloween is Oct 31st.
Chinese Holloween is July 15th.
=)
All that great food and drinks (well I don’t drink but I’d figured it’s good) sounds like a lot of fun. ๐ It’s almost like our celebration of the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico. We do almost the same thing; offering food, lighting incense, remembering past loved ones, bake special “dead” bread, and so on.
It’s fun to know these facts about other cultures. I don’t really have a diverse group of people around me here. I just like learning these things. Weird I know. X-P
๐ ah awesome! i would love to attend to such a tradition! it sounds way better than the normal western halloween because it’s considered to be widely targetted at kids only and the traditional spirit all lost …
Oy, your domain’s got a new look.. =]
Err.. Have you been using WordPress ever since you got your domain? Were you still a student then? *wonders*
P.S. Hope this Q’s won’t offend you in a way.
*these X-P
errr… any hot dead chicks on that celebration? ๐
question, what happens if the gates closed and there are still dead people hanging around? i mean, they got drunk or something like that… ๐
@Bobby: I never heard BataanWeb before. Are you from Bataan?
well. great but i do not like this kind of festival . it’s horrible. i like normal festival.