Let’s Visit Asia

Happy Halloween! Mary Jo at Flyaway Cafe compiled all the Halloween-related posts in the B5 Travel and Culture Channel; have a look at how this festivity is celebrated all over the world.

Although Halloween is also being observed in some parts of Asia, it is not a “real tradition” but merely in the context of American pop culture. In China and Chinese communities, however, its equivalent is the Ghost Festival:

In Chinese tradition, the thirteen day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar (Buddhist rituals are held on the fourteen day) is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower world. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day the deceased visit the living.

Instead of trick-or-treating, the Ghost Month is observed differently:

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning of hell money and bags containing clothes, gold and other fine goods made out of paper, for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Other festivities may include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

These activities are quite similar to what the Christians do during All Soul’s Day. In the largely Catholic Philippines, for example, the roads will be bursting to capacity shortly before and after Nov.1, with families paying their dear departed in the cemeteries a visit. If you’re in the country, expect heavy traffic during this time and plan your travel accordingly.

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