The middle of Ghost Month
The Ghost Festival is held on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, at the centre of what is often called Ghost Month. It is known as the Zhongyuan Festival in the Taoist tradition and as the Yulanpen (Ullambana) Festival in the Buddhist tradition, and it is observed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Chinese communities around the world.
Why the date moves
Because the festival follows the lunar calendar, its date in the Gregorian calendar changes every year, usually falling in August or early September. This countdown does not guess at the date: it uses the dates given in the Hong Kong Observatory’s Gregorian–lunar calendar conversion tables, and it counts to the start of that day on your own clock. In parts of southern China the festival is kept a day earlier, on the 14th.
Honouring ancestors and wandering spirits
During the seventh month the gates of the underworld are believed to open and the spirits of the dead to visit the living. Families honour their own ancestors and also make offerings to wandering spirits who have no descendants to care for them, often called hungry ghosts. Offerings of food, incense and joss paper are made at homes, temples and roadsides, and in some places lanterns are floated on water to guide the spirits. In Singapore and Malaysia, getai stage shows are performed for the spirits as well as the living, and the front row of seats is often left empty for them.
Observing respectfully
For many families this is a time of remembrance and care, not a festival of fear. If you see an offering at the roadside, leave it undisturbed, and do not sit in seats that have been left empty at a performance.
Related traditions include Obon in Japan and Vu Lan in Vietnam.