1 - 15 July of Lunar Calender is the Hungry Ghost Festival. What's Hungry Ghost Festival? It is believed that during this period of time the gate of Hell opens and all the 'living form' in the other world comes to our living world for God knows what activities.
Whether it's true or not, I don't know. There is basically no prove of this happening. I don't know if there really is Hell or even Heaven. I don't know if there's other living forms other than human in this world or in this universe.
However, there is one thing I believe in. The Hungry Ghost Festival has been around since long time ago. The actual official date of festival is unknown to many, unless to me. After such a long time the festival is still been 'celebrated' it is still around shows the importance of this festival in Chinese culture. During this period of time, you will not see many Chinese go out at night as it is believed that other living forms are more active during night time as there is no sunlight which represents the Yang (hot) energy. If there is no truth in this festival, I would think that this festival would be long ago been phased out.
Even though there is no scientific proof of this event, facts do speak for itself. Case history tells us that during this Hungry Ghost Festival, accident rate is usually higher than other period of time of the year. For example, there is a fatal accident on one of the offshore rigs in Malaysia and another passed away due to heart attack. There is one 'death ceremony' in my neighborhood. Over the years I have heard lots of interesting stories that happened during this period of time, but usually I forget after listening to them, so sorry guys, no horror stories here ;-)... will write about it when I come across in the future or when I remember them.
In a nutshell, I would say believe in something which has been around since ancient time. Don't take things for granted. Just believe, take necessary precaution steps but don't get superstitious. Superstitious will make our life miserable (maybe will talk about it next time :-)). Something that we can't see doesn't mean it doesn't exist, so JUST BELIEVE :-p......
1 comment:
there's also another thing that people dun see or realize
that's also something that i know
like you, hungry ghost month nobody knows the origin, or there's one, i dun know
but the one thing people dun think about is
chinese is just the most stubborn bunch of people and very good at 盲從 and refuse to change
we're capable of carrying out a ritual for no reason, just because we're told so, by our parents, by our grandparents
and just because if we dun listen, we're wrong and we're no good kids, and the parents will just tell you how rebellious and how a bad hopeless kid you are...
don't you know that, we're all refrained from thinking out of the box since we're small..
so, i'm not surprised if we do have festivals, based on no reason, for generations, believe me
chinese has >5000 years of history, look at where we are now?
dun talk about big brother china here, they're glooming yes, but giving anybody 5000 years, i think, i can build my empire to the sky
fatal cases happened most of the time... tell you what, i'd rather believed there're full of evil people with evil negative "qi" that cause all the disruption of the eco system around us, than to belive the hungry ghosts will do harm to us...
the most horrible creature, is human!
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