Precautions During Hungry Ghost Month – Part 3

Precautions During Hungry Ghost Month – Part 3

I think I better finish the 3^rd installment and the final series about Hungry Ghost Month. As stated previously, these are precautions to follow during that month where wandering or restless spirits are most active. These spirits or ghosts are released from Hell and can spend the whole month roaming the realm of Earth.

The remaining list of precautions and tips are as follows:

Do not step on the Ashes from Offerings

10) do not celebrate birthday at night (guess it is ok in daytime)

11) for Chinese operas, do not sit on the front seats (as they are catered for the “brothers & sisters”)

12) do not get married during that month (I guess ‘they’ might “kacau” – translation, disturb)

13) avoid talking about ghosts (might offend them)

14) do not disturb the food offerings, joss sticks or candles

I would like to recount a tale from Ganesh who claim that he does not believe in ghosts. This incident happened during the Hungry Ghost Month. Ganesh was feeling absolutely bored as most of his friends are not allowed to go drinking and chit-chatting especially during the nights. Ganesh visited Ah Meng at his house, which Ah Meng was forced by his parents to stay at home. Ganesh and Ah Meng were smoking at the little patch of land (garden-lah) and it was about 2am at night.

The night was cool and so quiet when they heard dogs barking furiously but gradually stopped. Then Daisy, a dog owned by Ah Meng’s family, started barking yelping furiously and the hairs on neck were virtually standing. They tried their best to calm Daisy and looked where the dog was looking and noticed that a “mist or fog” was travelling on the neighbor drive and it seemed to be travelling on a path. After the mist finally passed by, Ganesh noticed that Daisy eventually stopped barking. However the dogs from the opposite side of Ah Meng’s house started barking.

Ah Meng said that it was a ghost or ghosts wandering the neighbourhood during that month but Ganesh refused to believe in ghosts at the same time could not figure out what the hell it was.

For next story, Gerard used to work in a cinema in a nearby town. According to Gerard the wandering spirits enjoy the shows from the cinemas particularly during that month. They used to leave seats vacant for the “brothers & sisters” to enjoy the show. In fact, when they counted the money for the night, they found “Hell notes” among the usual cash!