Hungry Ghost Festival

By Author: james toma
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Have you thought about learning Chinese culture? If there is, then the first thing is to learn Chinese language. Learning Chinese benefits not a few words saying. When you learn Chinese, not only can we understand Chinese culture, but also to China better travel. Moreover, learning Chinese is also responsive to the needs of the times, I would like to introduce you to one of our Chinese festival " Hungry Ghost Festival", let you know our Chinese culture. If you are interested, then to a piece of me to take Chinese lesson! You can be first in line to pay attention to our online Chinese course.

The Hungry Ghost Festival (饿鬼节 È Guĭ Jié)of Chinese Taoism is also the Ullambana Festival (盂兰节yú lán jié)of Buddhism, commonly called "Ghost Festival"(鬼节 guĭ jié) or “Mid-July Festival”(中元节zhōng yuán jié). It falls on the fifteenth of every lunar July. (In 2009, Hungry Ghost Festival will falls on the coming 3rd September.)

Origin：

As the story goes, the Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha's (King of Hell's) mother died ...
... and was subjected to all manner of torture. Because he could not bear to see his mother suffering so, on the fifteenth day of the 7th lunar month, he used his personal relationships and connections to free his mother's ghost. Unfortunately, at the same time that he freed his mother's ghost, all the ghosts in the cell also surged out to disturb the human world. This is the origin of the saying, "On the fifteenth day of the 7th lunar month, the ghosts are released," so now we call the day Zhong Yuan Festival, or Ghost Festival.

Activity- Floating river lanterns

On the day of the festival, the living will float river lanterns to remember those who have died. They use boards and colorful paper to make all kinds of lanterns, with candles burning in the middle. Businesses often work together to build a large paper boat, called a Da Fa Boat, to transport all the ghosts to their ideal place. At nightfall, people place the lanterns and boats on the river to see if they float. Whether the boats and lanterns float or not tells them the fate of their deceased relatives. If the lantern or boat swirls in the river, people think the spirit is caught; If it sinks, then the spirit is saved; if it floats far away or to the other shore, the ghost will become an immortal being. While these are certainly good things to wish for, the truth is that most Chinese people float river lanterns just for

Do you know well the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival? If you want to know more about Chinese festivals and more Chinese culture, you can study Chinese. Of course, learning Chinese is not only this fun. You can try our online Chinese course.

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