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Double, double toil and trouble………….
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@Queen_Elsa I'm from an Asian country and we didn't celebrate Halloween. But we have a ghost festival here, which is related to ghosts. Whenever the Ghost Festival comes, some people will gather to worship ghosts. There will be a lot of delicious food there. Is that right @Diamond_Lim ?😉
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Ok @teeweiping I had to look it up. I'll post some information below for others who might want to know more about this.
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Like all cultural events, the Hungry Ghost Festival has an origin story rooted in ancient Chinese history. The story is about a Buddhist monk who seeks help from the Buddha to help his mother in the afterlife. It is said that when the monk’s mother passed away, she turned into a hungry wandering ghost. The monk tried offering food to her but as a ghost, she could not eat anything. Seeing his mother unable to find peace and rest in the afterlife the monk prayed to Buddha for help. Buddha explains that he can help his mother by offering food and new robes to the monks instead. Thankful for the offerings, the monks prayed for his mother and then she is reborn as a human, ending her hunger.
This story inspired the beginning of the Hungry Ghost Festival and in modern times, the festival is a celebration to honour our ancestors.
It is one of the 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 more important than the Qingming Festival and the Double Ninth Festival.
As mentioned before, the festival is a celebration to ward off or appease the evil spirits and to pay respects to deceased family members. They perform special ceremonies to avoid the wrath of the ghosts such as putting the family’s ancestral tablets on a table, burning incense, and preparing food three times that day.
The main ceremony is usually at dusk. People put the family’s ancestral tablets and old paintings and photographs on a table and then burn incense near them. A feast is usually prepared for these hungry ghosts. Plates of food are put out on a table, and the people may kowtow, a sacred gesture of praying, in front of the memorial tablets and report their behaviour to their ancestors to receive a blessing or punishment. People also enjoy a feast themselves on this night, and they might leave a place open at the table for a lost ancestor. (Source)
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What I love best about this community is being able to learn more about other cultures and history! This is fascinating. So @teeweiping do the children not know anything about going door to door at all? I guess when you are born into a culture and you've never experienced it then you can't miss it right?
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@Queen_Elsa You can type "Hungry Ghost Festival in Malaysia" to Google. They burn a lot of paper during that festival.
The food there is just average. You should be able to eat it all the time. Just eat less often. However, my favorite is the Ang Ku Kueh. Ang Ku Kueh if translate word by word to English is Red Turtle Cake. Ang Ku Kueh means longevity. The mung bean paste in the red turtle cake is sweet or salty, I prefer the sweet one.😋
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@Queen_Elsa yes, if I born into a culture and I have never experienced it then I can't miss it.
I'm a man and we rarely cook in my house. Ang Ku Kueh is one of the Nyonya Food. My mother seldom bake that cake, we all buy and eat because it's a lot of work to bake it. Me and my family don't celebrate this festival, but we know the story of this festival.
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One thing that I can never get used to here in the community is knowing whether you are a male or female from your nickname. 😀 I have to learn more about your festivals. Maybe as more of these festivals approach you can post a message about it here in the Players' Corner. I'm sure there are other community members here that would love to learn more about your culture and festivals.
