Hungry Ghost

Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated in the 7th lunar month by the Chinese Community to pay respects to the dead. It is believed in this time, the "gates of the spirit world" are closest to the physical world and the spirits of the dead are free to roam the earth. People purchase paper products, such as hell money, paper clothes, paper versions of most material goods and burn these items as offerings to the spirits. It is a way for people to respect, honor and look after their ancestors to make sure they have a good afterlife. Large bins for burning have been set up around the island for this use. You will also see small altars with food such as oranges, cakes sometimes even whole roasted pigs, laid out on tables with incense burning. These are also offerings for the spirits. They are called Hungry Ghosts because they are unable to enjoy food in the spirit world and can only enjoy the smell of smoke and the aroma of food. Here are my photos of Hungry Ghost festivities around town. 

Burning hell money for spirits. See the large stack of papers on the left, that is the hell money. 

Here is an alter at the Chinatown food center with a few large paper mache sticks burning.

Another offering in Chinatown. Most offerings will consist of oranges, food and drinks, flowers and incense or joss sticks.

These giant candles burn really fast. There was no one there watching them but I happened to walk pasted them again about 20 minutes after I took this picture and they were about halfway gone.

This offering has some takeout food with the chopsticks ready to go. That is a common sight during this festival.

Nam's Supplies is located in Chinatown on Smith St. Selling all items needed, hell money, paper shoes, bags, toys, etc. The shopkeepers were inside so I asked their permission to take photos. They were very kind! The store is open year round as there are a few other days throughout the year when people burn things for their deceased loved ones, mainly holidays and special occasions.

Nice big stack of fake money ready to burn for deceased loved ones.

Shoes ready to be burned as gifts for the spirits.

Paper branded bags.

I walked through the Chinatown market again today and boy did I get an eyeful! There was a huge, presumably, Hungry Ghost celebration going on. There was a band of 5 or 6 people, drums, trumpet, symbols, etc all dressed in yellow gowns singing and playing music. There were tons of offerings with a table that had about 8 giant whole roasted pigs. I was asked to not take pictures so unfortunately you will not be able to see it here. It was really interesting! This is what I really like about living in another country. So much to see and learn.