Hungry Ghost - The wandering souls

The Hungry Ghost festival is here again , just as the Americans have Halloween, the Chinese have the Hungry Ghost Festival. The souls of the dead are believed to roam the earth during this time of the year.  According to belief, discontented spirits wander the world during the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar. These ghosts can get up to mischief if ignored so all sort of offerings are made during this period.

If you happen to be in Asia this time of the year, you are bound to see large burnings and huge joss sticks by the road curbs and huge colorful flags with make shift tents.

And as if satisfying the ghosts’ appetite for money and food wasn’t enough, taking care of their entertainment is also important. Celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival is all about looking after the wandering souls.

During the course of Ghost Month, the local Chinese community will host this festivity dinners and auctions to raise money within their individual areas in community halls or put up temporary tents at sites allocated by the local authorities.

Having  performances by the Chinese operas or live stage performances is a must have, which feature tales of gods and goddesses, bawdy stand-up comedy, as well as song and dance numbers. Everyone is welcome – so sit back and enjoy the show. Just remember not to sit in the front row, unless you want to rub shoulders with the ‘special guests’.

I won't go much into it, I have posted this topic before but if you are new to my blog,  and curious, here's a good site with photos for a quick peek : Hungry Ghost Festival or look it up in my side bar for my post where I personally attended such activity.

This year I have declined attending a number of such events due to some home front issues, unlike the previous years where attending such events has taken me to almost every corners of the city almost nightly. 

The 7th moon is here

Another public holiday last weekend ! belated post  and a lenghty one..........

Image : Google Search

Its our National Day ! 
 on 31st  August 2012, giving me another three days weekend !

Also, according to the Chinese calender, 17th August enters a new moon, its the 7th month on the 15th day and hence, the gate of  the hell realm is opened allowing the spirits to wonders to the human world. This is the Ghost Festival or also known as the  Hungry Ghost Festival. DH & me, minus the kids took the 30minutes drive back to his hometown for the festivity that evening

The main shrine

Almost as important as honoring the ancestors, offerings to ghosts without families must be made so as the dead will not disturb the living. The ceremony is usually held at dusk. It's believed that this is the day when these spirits are malevolent  due to their sufferings, thus,  it’s important to give them a sumptuous feast so they can be at peace and harm no one, meaning the living. Taoists and Buddhists perform ceremonies on this day to ease the sufferings of the deceased.

At the festival, I am more attracted to the offerings on displayed, because it bring out the crafters, its like a case of showing-off  their offering presentation skills, and no denial that these village people are a crafty lot and you don't get to see  a repeat from last year either, LOL. Below are some of the paper crafts  from joss papers (origami technique) that am amazed

I just loved the pineapples at the far end?

Barbie never fails to make an appearance

one of the dresses are made from Tiger beer bottle caps

Note to WSG members  !!  : "Bangali Peng", LOL stacked on top of three layers of colourful jellies, sorry bad quality photos as all the photos are caught with my mobile

Amazing what dough can do

One of the richly ornamented "Black Gold" Mountain

sitting on stacks of joss paper, black gold are actually charcoal

The amount of joss papers from one contributors alone, and this is only one,  imagined burning all the above paper mache' plus all that from the venue of a basketball court

Its like a big bonfire night !!

(Image from google search, I didn't wait till the end for the burning) 

On occasions such as these, the humans feasted too, a jolly good time to celebrate while waiting for the occasion to end, its also the place where you get to meet old friends or acquaintances, especially when the venue is in one's hometown.

BeLiEve it or NoT ! This is considered to be an Inauspicious Month
The month is considered  a bad time to indulge in activities such as evening strolls, travelling, moving house, or starting a new business. People avoid water sports too, since its believed that water spirits will be lurking around in search of victims.....scary huh ? or old wife's tales?

The three days is a welcome break for me, I know I just had nine, but it never seems enough, right? I finally got to bake a Banana Bread on Sunday, my second attempt with another recipe I found from google, which tastes better and moist compared to my first which was a bit dry . This bake was a bit too sweet  for my taste despite I had cut down on the sugar by half a cup since  the bunch of bananas I bought was somewhat sweet, so I must remember to cut down  more for my next.  I also added crushed almonds when the recipe did not, giving it a bit of a crunchy in between bites.

and Sunday lunch was one of my lazy cooking, my version of  Spicy Fried Rice, with ingredients from whatever I find in the fridge, totally laziness for a reason

So I get to have some time to work on my last installment, Once Upon A Time, Chart 3

I gave myself one year to complete this and I am already running late with my August dateline.

I could have accomplished more if not being drawn away to attend some  matters :(

 Thanks for coming back, hope you enjoyed reading another festivity posting with a tiny bits on my WIP

Fifteenth day of the Seventh moon

,FIt is believed traditionally by the Chinese that hell break lose during this month. It is said that the gates of hell are open and spirits from the underworld are free to roam the earth where they seek food and entertainment. It is known as the Hungry Ghost Festival and regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm to visit the living. The Dead visit the Living? Do they exist? I wouldn't take my chances, ancestors or not, instead during their month, I rather give them their due respect. People also tends to refrain from late nights during this month.

Here are some pictures from the festivity held at my In-laws village last nite.
The main offerings such as these are a must for this festivity. Below are from the family table. Normally, creativity are a must in terms of decorating everything that are being offered.





Because creativity is involved, I loved to see what others have to offer. Here, I stole some snaps from then neighbour's displayed table, the one on the left is a male domain, no females were spotted at the table to decorate or put up their items. Known as the Black Gold which are actually formation from charcoal, with gold figurines of the 8 Immortals decorated. Estimated to have cost its owner RM600.00 to put together including the glass case A sampan filled with chocolates and the owner's business card. Apparently he is in the Automobile business Loved those mini pink baskets

Some cute looking food, I believed these are dumplings Smoke filled the sky where incense, joss paper, a paper-mache in all form of items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors are burnt to mark the end of the offerings. I missed pictures of this massive burnings because I fell asleep and did not woke up until past midnight when all ends.

Thanks everyone for visiting me on another non-crafting post and also for your kind words left

on my last post.