HAPPILY EVER AFTER TRADING
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Hungry Ghost Festival
Posted on August 27th, 2009 3 commentsThe time passes by so fast that with just a blink of an eye, the 7th Month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar has arrived. Today is actually the 8th day already. The very first day was started on the 20th of August, 2009. The last day of it will end on the 30th day which falls on the 18th of September, 2009. For the Chinese, this will be the month with most of the “Don’ts” which are things that totally cannot be carried out during this time of the year. Chinese Wedding is one of the ceremonies that is totally prohibited on this 7th month cause it is too inauspicious.
The Hungry Ghost Festival which fall on this month will start from the 14th day until the 30th of the 7th month. In the Gregorian calendar wise, which is from the 2nd of September until the 18th of September, for the year 2009.
Since this is a very inauspicious month, why the people still named it the Hungry Ghost Festival and celebrate for it? Well, the story came from the ancient Chinese from China and it sound like this. The Gate of Hell is supposed to be opened once a year on the 14th day till the 30th day of the 7th month. Once the gate is opened, souls of the dead will be out wondering the earth for that particular 2 weeks time. For this 2 weeks, most of the Chinese people will have a festival. Well, diferent people have different celebrations. There are countless of Chinese in their dialects alone. Just take this as one of the example that I have found very interesting in Malaysia. Just about a week before the arrival of the 14th day, people will start building lots of stages across the country or in a heavily populated are by Chinese. Usually these stages are set up by the Chinese Association nearby and bared by some donations around the people who live around there. Those stages are for the performers that are from around the country to perform with songs and dances at night. The chairs will be arranged row by row in a neat manner for the audience. The first and the second row of chairs or sets will be emptied as there are not meant for normal people to seat. These two rows are actually meant for the souls that are wondering around to have a sit and enjoy the show. Besides the stage, a few tables will be opened also for the people to dine in for the night. Some places can get really crowded and people seam to be enjoying it and maybe because of this, people start to call it a festival instead. You will also see the big, i mean huge (about 2 persons in height) joss-tick will be burning throughout the night.
People will also be burning josstick and candles at their house front porch at night. They will also present some biscuits and candies for the souls that are passing by their house just in case in order for them not to come inside to their house. The will just pray for them to continue their wondering instead of dropping by their house. Well, these are all the beliefs that you still can find until today and it is very interesting and colorful especially during the night bazaar for the 2 weeks in a row.
A You Tube video clip of the singing stage:
Chinese Wedding Accessories for Sales Page.
3 responses to “Hungry Ghost Festival”
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I’ll take some of your suggestions and try to apply them.
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Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.
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Andy, a very interesting post thanks for writing it!
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yourbig.ru September 28th, 2009 at 20:27