Title:  Hungry Ghosts

General Information about Item:

• Custom, Superstition
• Language: Chinese
• Culture of Origin: Chinese
• Informant: MR
• Date Collected: 10-25-21

Informant data: 

MR grew up in the California Bay Area in a predominantly Asian neighborhood. MR is of Chinese descent himself and was also constantly surrounded by Chinese culture. Following graduation from high school, MR began university studies at UC Berkeley, where he is currently an electrical engineering and computer science student. 

Cultural context: 

Social context: Upon inquiry about historical traditions, MR told me about a tradition his family does from time to time of going to a temple to burn incense. Presumably, he learned this tradition from his parents, who he goes to the temple with from time to time. 

Cultural Context: The Hungry Ghost Festival occurs every year on the Lunar calendar’s 15th day of the seventh month. During this day, it is believed that the dead ghosts come out from their places of rest and it is their descendants’ duty to pay homage to them with offerings of food and paper money. As a result, people light incense sticks and burn joss paper (representative of money) so that the ghosts of their ancestors do not become angry spirits that haunt them. 

Item: 

MR said that his family occasionally goes to the temple during the Hungry Ghost Festival to make offerings to our ancestors. The last time he went, he says they brought “a bag of oranges, some paper money, and several sticks of incense”. After placing the oranges on the altar, the money was burned in a nearby fire pit, and the incense sticks were lit and placed upright inside of an ashtray to burn slowly. In this way, the spirits are happy and do not haunt people. 

Informant Comment: 

MR said that he did not really believe in these customs, but enjoyed spending time with his family. 

Collector Comment: 

It would be interesting to investigate the origin of this custom.

Tags/Keywords:

• Custom
• Ritual
• Superstition