hungry ghost festival
简
繁
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English:
hungry
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ghost
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General chinese:
饿鬼
餓鬼
pinyin:
è guǐ
+
English:
festival
Detailed etymology
definitions
noun
- a religious and cultural festival observed during the seventh month of the lunar calendar, when it is believed that hungry ghosts escape the underworld and roam about the human realm looking for food. Adherents of Taoism, Buddhism, and Chinese folk religion traditionally make offerings to appease these spirits, leaving food, lighting candles and joss sticks, and burning Hell money and paper effigies of expensive items.
The large amounts of smoke, unsightly littering, and pollution caused by these offerings is often a contentious point against the practise of this tradition.