Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan)

The Ghost Festival on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month blends Taoist Zhongyuan, Buddhist Ullambana and ancestor rites, with offerings for wandering spirits.

Lunar date

15th day of the 7th month

Usual dates

Aug 9–Sep 6

Date and Origins

Zhongyuan (中元) falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month and is popularly called 'mid-seventh month' or the Ghost Festival. It weaves together three traditions: the Taoist Zhongyuan, the Buddhist Ullambana (盂蘭盆), and much older autumn ancestor worship.

Taoism recognises three Yuan days: Shangyuan on the 1st month's 15th, when the Heavenly Official grants blessings; Zhongyuan on the 7th month's 15th, when the Earthly Official pardons sins; and Xiayuan on the 10th month's 15th, when the Water Official averts misfortune. On Zhongyuan, Taoist temples hold rituals to absolve the dead and release lonely souls.

The Buddhist observance comes from the Ullambana Sutra. The disciple Maudgalyayana (Mulian) saw his late mother suffering as a hungry ghost, food turning to embers in her mouth. The Buddha told him to make offerings to the monastic community on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the summer retreat ends, so the merit could save ancestors of seven generations. Emperor Wu of Liang is recorded as holding Ullambana feasts at temples, and the story of Mulian rescuing his mother became a popular opera theme on filial piety.

Customs and Ghost Month

Folk belief treats the whole seventh month as Ghost Month: the gates of the underworld are thought to open on the first day, letting wandering spirits receive offerings, and close at month's end. Families honour ancestors, Buddhist temples hold Ullambana services and Taoist temples hold rites, while floating lanterns are set on rivers to guide drowned souls. Cantonese families burn paper clothes and spirit money at the roadside on the fourteenth night, scattering rice for spirits with no descendants.

Festive Foods

Offerings are meant to be generous. Taiwanese altars carry meat, fish, canned goods, snacks, drinks and rice wine, with basins and towels for the spirits to wash; Hakka areas hold large sacred pig ceremonies. Red turtle cakes appear in Fujian and Taiwan, duck is eaten in Guangdong, and parts of northern China steam dough lambs for children. At Hong Kong ceremonies, blessed rice is distributed afterwards for good fortune.

Regional Differences

Taiwan's Zhongyuan Pudu includes public rites run by temples and private altars set up by households and businesses, which pick a day in the month. Keelung's Ghost Festival is said to date to the Qing Xianfeng era, after a feud between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou settlers, with clan associations taking turns as hosts; its lantern parade on the fourteenth night is spectacular. Toucheng in Yilan and Hengchun in Pingtung hold 'grappling with ghosts' pole-climbing contests at month's end.

Hong Kong's Yu Lan Ghost Festival, led by Chiu Chow (Teochew) communities and listed as national intangible heritage in 2011, builds temporary halls and bamboo theatres staging Chiu Chow opera, with front-row seats left empty for spirits, plus auctions of blessed items. Macau neighbourhoods hold similar rites. In Singapore and Malaysia, seventh-month associations stage getai concerts with empty front rows. Japan's Obon, mostly in mid-August, features welcoming and send-off fires and bon dances; Korea's temples mark Baekjung with Ullambana rites; and Vietnam's Vu Lan honours parents, with a red rose for a living mother and a white one for a mother who has died.

Taboos and Trivia

Traditional Ghost Month taboos include not whistling at night, not hanging laundry after dark, avoiding swimming, never picking up red envelopes from the street, and postponing moves or weddings. These are folk beliefs, expressing respect for the unseen and compassion for the forgotten dead.

Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan): dates by year

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