Ghost Month

The annual reunion of the dead and the living, known as Ghost Month or Hungry Ghost Month, is the most important Chinese festival of the dead. Daoists (also known as Taoists), Buddhists, and Chinese folk religion believers observe it. During Ghost Month, an annual month-long furlough from Hades is given to all of its inhabitants. During this period, the spirits of all the dead return to earthly existence to visit their families and others. Ghost Month is observed during the entire seventh lunar month, and it is observed in its purest form in Taiwan. During this festival, activities include the preparation of elaborate food offerings, decorating temples with lights and lanterns to guide the spirits, offering prayers for the dead, and the burning of ghost money. Insight into Chinese eschatology is helpful to grasp the significance of Ghost Month. This entry describes Chinese eschatology and the polytheistic elements of Chinese culture, the activities that take place during the observance of Hungry Ghost Month, and its cultural significance.

Chinese Eschatology

In Chinese culture death is not the final annihilation of self but an alternate, spiritual form of existence. Upon death, the soul of an individual undertakes a 7-week journey traveling through the yin world, the otherworld. In this journey the deceased pass through various gates and courts where trials are held and judgments made regarding the deceased's conduct in life on earth. Ultimately the soul reaches Hades, the abode of the dead, and lives under the rule of the Giamlo-ong (Mandarin: Yen-lo-wang), the main deity of the underworld.

Chinese eschatology posits an existence after death, but the Chinese concept of life after death portrays an existence not unlike earthly life. The existence of the dead in Hades has an economic counterpart in the world of the living in that it costs money, because it is believed the dead in Hades have needs. The dead need food and drink, housing, clothing, and all the other necessities that are required during life. These things must be supplied by the living, and it falls to the offspring of the deceased to assume this responsibility. The living care for the dead, and the dead are thought to take care of the living through their spiritual influence.

A Host of Ghosts

Within Chinese eschatology is the belief that when one dies, the spirit goes to Hades and will enjoy, if well provided for, an existence essentially the same as when alive on earth. Family survivors think of [Page 513]the dead as viable entities who are only living in a different place. All disembodied spirits are known as leng, of which there are three categories: (1) recently deceased parents or relatives and longdeceased ancestors, (2) ghosts who have no living relatives to worship them and care for their otherworldly needs, and (3) gods. Gods are considered to be in the same generic category as ghosts and ancestral spirits because some gods are assumed to have once been mortals who led virtuous lives and became deities after death.

Chinese culture accommodates polytheism, and many Chinese worship multiple deities. Religious worship can be quite varied and may include Daoism (also known as Taoism), Buddhism, Confucianism, plus numerous folk and local patron gods, sea gods, and animistic deities. It has been estimated that there are in excess of 250 gods or deities that are worshipped.

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