Ghost Festival
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- This article is about the Chinese Ghost Festival. For the festival in Loei province, Thailand, see Pee Ta Khon.
| Ghost Festival | |
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| Official name | Buddhism: Ullambana (TC: 盂蘭盆, SC: 盂兰盆 Yúlánpén) Taoism and Folk Belief: Zhōngyuán Jié (TC: 中元節, SC: 中元节)" |
| Also called | Ghost Month |
| Observed by | Buddhists, Taoists, Chinese folk religion believers |
| Type | Asian festival |
| Significance | The opening of the gates of Hell, permitting all ghosts to receive food and drink |
| Date | Fourteenth night of the 7th lunar month |
| 2006 date | August 8 |
| Observances | Ancestor worship, offering food (to monks as well as deceased), burning joss paper, chanting of scriptures |
| Related to | Obon |
The Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 14th night of the seventh lunar month.
In the Chinese tradition, the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is called the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits come out from the lower world to visit earth. The Ghost Festival is the climax of a series of the Ghost Month celebrations. Activities at the festival include preparing ritualistic offering food, and burning hell money to please the visiting ghosts and spirits, as well as deities and ancestors. Other activities include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies "giving directions to the lost ghosts." A very solemn festival, the festival nevertheless represents a connection between the living and the dead, earth and heaven, as well as body and soul.
The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of El Día de los Muertos.
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[edit] Buddhist Ghost Festival: Ullambana
The Ghost Festival has roots in the Buddhist festival Ullambana and also in Daoist culture. In the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist festival Ullambana and traditional festivities were mixed and celebrated on one day. Thus, the Ghost Festival has special meaning for all Buddhists as one of their most important festivals.
[edit] Ullambana Origin
[edit] The Buddha's happy day
To Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteen day of the seventh month is the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks.
The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in the scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer. Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.
[edit] Mahāmaudgalyāyana Saves His Mother From Hell
The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a well descriptive account of a well-to-do merchant who eventually gives up his trade to become a Buddhist monk. He became one of the Buddha's chief disciples. His name was Mahāmaudgalyāyana. (Ch. 目連, Mulian, Pāli Mahāmoggallāna)
After he attained the title of arhat, he thought of his father and mother, and wondered what happened to them. He travelled over the known Buddhist universe, and found his father in heaven.
However, his mother had been reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost---it could not eat because its throat was very thin and no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly. His mother was greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.
Mahāmaudgalyāyana eventually saves her from this plight by battling various demons and entreating the help of the Buddha. The compromise that was made was one that owes to the relevance of the Ghost Festival and ancestor worship.
The Buddha established a day after the traditional summer retreat (the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, usually mid-to-late August) as a day of prayer and offering in which monks can pray and make sacrifices on behalf of dead ancestors or hungry ghosts. The family members of the deceased essentially pay for this service, and thus their patronage is a form of charity. The deceased ancestors are pacified and hungry ghosts can eat (the sacrificial foods).
The story ends with this festival and the rescue of his mother from hell. She ended up being reborn as a dog, but as a pet in a well-off household.
[edit] A difference between the two festivals
Chinese Buddhists often say that there is a difference between Ullambana and the traditional Chinese Zhongyuan Jie, usually saying people have mixed superstitions (such as burning joss paper items) and delusional thoughts, rather than think that Ullambana is actually a time of happiness.
[edit] Japanese Ghost Festival: O-bon
O-bon, or simply Bon, is the Japanese version of the Ghost Festival. It has since been transformed over time into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.
Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years. It is held from 13th of July to the 16th ("Welcoming Obon" and "Farewell Obon" respectively) in the eastern part of Japan (Kantō), and in August in the western part (Kansai).
[edit] Vietnamese Mother's Day
In Vietnam, this holiday is called Vu Lan and considered Mother's Day. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls.
[edit] See also
- Ancestor worship
- Nine Emperor God / Festival of Nine Emperor God (Chinese: 九皇爺, Hokkien: Kow Ong Yah, Cantonese: Kow Wong Yeh)
- Ghost Festival in Malaysia
