3 replies to this topic

[siguie]

For those of you who may not follow the Chinese Lunar Calendar the 7th month is known as the Ghost Month, and this year {2019} it began on July 31st and I believe ends on August 30th.

There are a number of specific beliefs and practices tied to Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism but more importantly there are a large number of stories, folklore and superstitions. Basically people noticed that most accidents occur in the 7th month, business starts to go down {probably since this is the harvest season and people are busy}, etc.

In any event, in many Asian cultures it's basically believed that Ghosts get a vacation from Hell and ancestral spirits visit their still living loved ones during this time.

In short, the 7th lunar month is when spirits become active both the good AND baaad   

And one of the main reasons I wanted to post this now is that the Hungry Ghost Festival is on August 15th AND the Japanese festival Obon {aka Bon} starts on Tuesday the 13th and ends on Thursday, August 15th.

So be on the lookout for more ghostly activity this week

[KlaineyGStudy]

I have already had my share this month but I will keep an eye out! Thanks for the share siguie

Can I just hear them and not see?

[LeticiaAlb]

I can't wait to see in anyone has something paranormal happen to them

[siguie]

Actually Klainey was the one that kinda reminded me about this, I think her latest ghostly happenings started 2 or 3 days before the beginning of Ghost Month BUT it's not like these are hard start and stop dates Basically ancient cultures just noticed a lot of weird carp happened around the 7th lunar month so BAM it's Ghost Month and the reason the Festival is the 15th is on account of it being the Fullmoon.

Anywho I like the different cultural perspectives on what ghosts do and thought the term Hungry Ghost was kinda cool ...

Quote

... The term 餓鬼 èguǐ, literally "hungry ghost", is the Chinese translation of the term preta in Buddhism. "Hungry ghosts" play a role in Chinese Buddhism, Vietnamese Buddhism and Taoism as well as in Chinese folk religion and Vietnamese folk religion. The term is not to be confused with the generic term for "ghost" or damnation, 鬼 guǐ (i.e. the residual spirit of a deceased ancestor). The understanding is that all people become such a regular ghost when they die,[1] and would then slowly weaken and eventually die a second time.[2][3] [4] Hungry ghosts, by contrast, are a much more exceptional case, and would only occur in very unfortunate circumstances, such as if a whole family were killed or when a family no longer venerated their ancestors.[3]

wikipedia

The term Hungry Ghost also has different meanings in different cultures like I believe {not 100% sure}  in "Malaysia" hungry ghosts are spirits that haven't moved on and need to "eat" but can only eat offerings made to them by the living, either friends or family OR by temples and can get irate if not fed offerings regularly.

This is one reason why other countries and cultures treat paranormal happenings differently and often try to appease ghosts vs banishing or kicking them out.


Anywho be on the lookout for :Boo:and try to be nice