中元寄哀思 灯下念故人
Just as Halloween is for Americans, the “Hungry Ghost Festival” is for Chinese. Ghost Festival is one of Chinese traditional occasions, which is taken very seriously by the Chinese. This festival usually falls on the15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. The Ghost Festival, some places say the Hungry Ghost Festival, is also called Half July (Lunar), Ullambana, which is closely related to Buddhism, and zhongyuan jie which is the Taoism saying and Folk Belief.
The Hungry Ghost Festival is one of several traditional festivals in China to worship ancestors. Others include the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, and the Double Ninth Festival. In Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province, the Hungry Ghost Festival is considered to be more important than the Qingming Festival and the Double Ninth Festival. The Taoist name for the Hungry Ghost Festival is the Zhongyuan Festival, and Buddhists call it the Yulanpen Festival.
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