A Simplified 7th Month prayer demonstration by Oregon Chang

Disclaimer 

 Dear Readers, Supposingly such demonstration is not very advisable during the point of the Chinese 7th month. But Oregon Chang of Asiaparanormal makes a special exception this time. 

 Team Asiaparanormal and Oregon Chang, himself personally have also make their sincere apologies and explanations to the " Good Brothers" that are lurking around our human world before , during and after the process. 

 Dear 7th Month "Good Brothers" If you so happen to be reading this article as well, with due respect we would like to express ourselves that this is for education purposes to our readers and nothing more than that. There is no means or intentions to challenge or offend you , if any.

If there is really any, please do forgive us

thank you for your understanding and forgiveness

 ==========================================================

During the Chinese 7th Month, Altars for the Gods are being set up and this is something that can be seen in common

Prayers and offerings to the Heavenly Gods are made but there are sometimes where which there are people who make Prayers and offerings to the Gods of the Hell instead.




When doing prayers to the "Good Brothers" of the 7th month, please do bare in mind to be careful of what you are asking.

You should not demand. The most is request.
Do not make promises anyhow.

Just to name you a few examples,You can seek and request them to bless you in areas such as :
1) Career stability but not request them to remove your enemies and things like such
2) plead for harmony, peace and protection to your family
3) bless you in your business if you are a businessman
4) well being and good health of your kins

DO NOT ASK FOR :
1) Do not ask for numbers to buy lottery ( there is a serious consequences behind strings are attached)
2) Death of Others
3) Mishaps , accidents etc.... of those people you don't like
4) Misfortune of Others

The below will be some of the basic Package of what we Chinese usually burn to the "Good Brothers" of the 7th month



So what exactly does the package covers ?
Basically , this will what it will be covering

Crossing Road Money 过路钱


This is the thing , we Chinese will toss into the air. This is the money ghosts need to pay to cross over. if they never pay the crossing over money , they cannot cross.

This money is for both the 7 month good brothers as well as the attendants and guards of the underworld.
we want to make things easy for everyone and not problem and troubles for both the 7th month brothers and the underworld guards.

We call this in Chinese as GUO LU QIAN 过路钱



Followed Next will the most traditional Paper Money for the dead
this is the common paper money we always burn for the dead on funerals, death anniversary, etc.....

t


Followed will be the Currency of the underworld. This currency is known as the Hell Notes





Next it is the Chinese Ingots , bullion and coins







Followed will be some of the burning for the dead





Finally would be the Offerings for the dead





Now that we are done with most basic package , the next thing will be the Set up





Finally it is time for the actual Prayer



do not forget to toss the 过路钱 ( Guo Lu Qian)  sky high & it be blown all over the place as shown below



Now you can do your praying



& Finally time to burn ! burn as much as possible with sincerity





Do you believe that they are all over to receive ? did you spot many ghost orbs in the photo?
are they really indeed ghost orbs or was it something faulty with the camera? you decide

for the food wise that you have offered for them. generally to speak you can really offer them anything you like.

after you are done with the prayer, you have 2 options in fact
1) leave the food and drinks behind as it is alone and walk off
2) take back your offerings and have it for yourself.

should you choose the 2nd option, there will be something that you will need to do, and that will be to toss the Chinese Moon Oracle （ 阴阳笑杯）Yin Yang Xiao Bei


Only when it appears shown in the above, one is facing down and the other is facing up it means that the "good brothers" of the 7th month have already received your offerings and given you the permission to take back the so called offerings for yourself  to eat and drink.

but if  after tossing 3 times and still does not shows that ,  but instead like the below 2 pictures , it is then a clear indication that you should not take the offering back.



However, if you do not have this Chinese Moon Oracle （ 阴阳笑杯）Yin Yang Xiao Bei
There are also substitutes and that will be the normal coins we use in our daily lives.

An example of such would be the 50 cent Singapore coin



But However, please do kindly and dearly remember that you never ever use the Singapore $1 coin for the case of Singapore Coin.


The reason to it is simply because , it has been said that each and every single Singapore $1 coins are already caste with Chinese Taoism/Buddhism magic with the ability to exorcist Ghosts.

You may read up again on this topic which Asiaparanormal has posted before

[Click here to read Singapore's Coin of protection]
[Click here to read Singapore's $1 Coin can Protect you]

And according to the old legends, if the " Good Brothers" of the 7th month really had tasted your food and drinks, when you eat and drink the offerings, you will find them very tasteless. Believe or not , that is up to you.


Hope that everyone find this article useful and informative

May you all be well blessed in this Chinese 7th month
& Take Care of yourselves  dear readers

Best Regards,
Team Asiaparanormal

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Gates of Hell are open During the 7th Lunar Month

The Ghost Festival is celebrated during the 7th month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. It also falls at the same time as a full moon, the new season, the fall harvest, the peak of Buddhist monastic asceticism, the rebirth of ancestors, and the assembly of the local community.


During this month, the gates of hell are opened up and ghosts are free to roam the earth where they seek food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be ancestors of those who have forgotten to pay tribute to them after they had died, or those who have suffered deaths and were never given a proper ritual for a sendoff. They have long thin necks because they have not been fed by their family, or it is a sign of punishment so they are unable to swallow.

Family members would offer prayers to their deceased relatives and would burn joss paper. Such paper items are only valid in the underworld, which is why they burn it as offering to the ghosts that have come from the gates of hell. Like in the material world, the afterlife is very similar in some aspects, and the paper effigies of material goods would provide comfort to those who have nothing in the afterlife. People would also burn other things such as paper houses, cars, servants and televisions to please the ghosts.


[Click here to read full article]

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Chinese Hungry Ghosts in USA photos and Taboos

 Lee Rault sends us this photo of what she says is a photo of a Hungry Ghost. This she says is her long dead maternal Grandfather's ghosts taken during Hungry Ghost Month August 5, 2008

  Wed Aug 13, 5:53 AM ET BEIXIAOYING TOWN, China - Three Chinese were critically injured Wednesday in an accident involving a bus from the athletes' village and a van on the way to the Olympic rowing park, the Australian Olympic Committee said. The accident happened near the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. Could it be the curse of Hungry Ghosts?

  Real Hungry Ghost Month Taboos!
The Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month.

In Chinese tradition, the thirteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month , in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. During the Qingming Festival the living descendants pay homage to their ancestors and on Ghost Day, the deceased visit the living.

On the thirteenth day the three realms of Heaven, Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mache form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the former includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the latter only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of El Día de los Muertos. Due to theme of ghosts and spirits, the festival is sometimes also known as the Chinese Halloween, though many have debated the difference between the two.
&nbsp Most interested in the beliefs and taboos that many awful bad things may and can happen to people who give birth, renovate their homes, take trips, go swimming, buy real estate or get a haircut during the most cursed month of the year.

Never look into a mirror this month of the year during the hours of 8:Pm to 8:am. Do not where borrowed clothes, or those items that belonged to the deceased in any way. They say they will come and claim you. Avoid looking into water that the moon reflects upon. if you see the moons reflection your first born child will be struck down.

To Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks. The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in various scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer. Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Maudgalyayana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.

The Buddhist origins of the festival can be traced back to a story that originally came from India, but later took on culturally Chinese overtones. In the Ullambana Sutra, there is a descriptive account of a Buddhist monk named Mahamaudgalyayana, originally a brahmin youth who later ordained, and later becoming one of the Buddha's chief disciples. Mahamaudgalyayana was also known for having clairvoyant powers, an uncommon trait amongst monks.

After he attained arhatship, he began to think deeply of his parents, and wondered what happened to them. He used his clairvoyance to see where they were reborn and found his father in the heavenly realms i.e the realm of the gods. However, his mother had been reborn in a lower realm, known as the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. His mother took on the form of a hungry ghost--- so called because it could not eat due to its highly thin & fragile throat in which no food could pass through, yet it was always hungry because it had a fat belly.

His mother had been greedy with the money he left her. He had instructed her to kindly host any Buddhist monks that ever came her way, but instead she withheld her kindness and her money. It was for this reason she was reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts.

Mahamaudgalyayana eased his mother's suffering by receiving the instructions of feeding pretas from the Buddha. The Buddha instructed Mahamaudgalyayana to place pieces of food on a clean plate, reciting a mantra seven times, snap his fingers then tip the food on clean ground. By doing so, the preta's hunger was relieved and through these merits, his mother was reborn as a dog under the care of a noble family.

Mahamaudgalyayana also sought the Buddha's advice to help his mother gain a human birth. The Buddha established a day after the traditional summer retreat (the 15th day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar, usually mid-to-late August) on which Mahamaudgalyayana was to offer food and robes to 500 bhikkhus. Through the merits created, Mahamaudgalyayana's mother finally gained a human birth.

Due to Confucian influence, the offering became directed towards ancestors rather than the Sangha and ancestor worship has replaced the simple ritual of relieving the hunger of pretas. However, most Buddhist temples still continue the ancient practice of donating to the Sangha as well as to perform rituals for the hungry ghosts.

Chinese Buddhists often say that there is a difference between Ullambana and the traditional Chinese Zhongyuan Jie, usually saying people have mixed superstitions (such as burning joss paper items) and delusional thoughts, rather than think that Ullambana is actually a time of happiness.

O-bon, or simply Bon, is the Japanese version of the Ghost Festival. It has since been transformed over time into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves.

Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years. It is held from 13th of July to the 16th ("Welcoming Obon" and "Farewell Obon" respectively) in the eastern part of Japan (Kanto), and in August in the western part (Kansai).

 

This reported real photo is aid to be of a mans Father's very Hungry Ghosts. The photo was taken August 2005 in Chinatown New York. The face of this Hungry Ghost was said to be seen clearly on the ceiling of a restaurant. Photo sent to us by Brad Chen.

This festival is the chance for pardoning guilty ghosts which are homeless and not be taken care of. People worship ghosts and liberate animals, such as birds or fish.

Influenced by Buddhism, this holiday is also the Vu Lan festival, the Vietnamese transliteration for Ullambana. The festival is also considered Mother's Day. People with living mothers would be thankful, while people with dead mothers would pray for their souls. Though also the city of New Orleans with it's population of Vietnamese has also incorporated this into it's Hoodoo Voodoo Traditions.

Ghost Festival in Malaysia is modernized by the 'concert-like' live performing, it has its own characteristic and is not similar to other Ghost Festivals in other countries. The live show is popularly known as 'Koh-tai' by the Hokkien-speaking peoples, it was performed by a group of singers, dancers and entertainers, on a temporary stage that setup within the residential district. The festival is funded by the residents of each individual residential districts. All this is performed in front of several empty red seats reserved just for the dead. And do not sit in the chair for you will be cursed for life and haunted.

[Click here to read full article]

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Chinese Hungry Ghosts Haunts USA between August and September

To the eastern culture, the calendar calendar month of the 7th moon, which is between the 2nd hebdomad of August and first hebdomad of September, is a month of hungry shades festival. This is the calendar month where the spirit of the dead or the shades are released from the world of sleep and are allowed to wander freely on earth. A Hole medal and a straw cross over your front door might just be enough in some circles to protect Hungry Ghost from invading your home, life and mind!

The Holly Blessed medal nailed to the door might just ward off a Banshee, a Vampire or a ghoul or two. But .... can ancestor ghosts still enter? Real Hungry Ghost will enter your life and demand to be fed. Precautions need to be made in months in advance. "They only want to be respected and cause you all kinds of harm for what they believe is your own good!" says Ghost Hunter Diane Chang, of San Francisco.

" Nothing but the old ways can stop these family members from coming to haunt you . And these angry hungry souls are not appeased easy. From The News: It's Ghost Season in Japan - Who You Gonna Call? - How can one stop being haunted by ghosts? In the Christianized West, holy water and crosses may help ward off ghosts, but they won't keep their Japanese counterparts, buried under Shinto or Buddhist rites, at bay. Instead, "ofuda" strips inscribed with Buddhist sutras are believed to be effective in keeping evil spirits away. Some Shinto shrines also provide "oharai," a purification ritual that removes bad omens with wooden wands and chants. -- Japan Times By Raggse J. McConnell According to long centuries old tradition, the Hungry Ghost Month is a very evil time - which began August 1 in the western calendar of every year-

On this day the locked shut the gates of the underworld open wide and fiercely, allowing real Spooks, specters and real evil angry ghosts to enter the world of mortals. At the end of the month, tradition holds the ghosts return to the underworld and the gates are slammed shut. But many ghosts do so much damage in this short time lives are ruined forever. But wait, don't you know some Hungry ghosts can move in and never leave. Oh... No! It's the most haunted month of the year! When August 1st rolls around each year be afraid be very afraid! The ghosts that can to your home have many tricks up their shrouded sleeves.

 From pesky Womb ghosts to deadly anal spooks ( Also See: " Womb Ghosts --- A Womb With A Boo!" here) your life can be in serious trouble. And if your a paranormal investigator you might be at a higher risk because many ghosts know who you are and most likely where you live. None of this is a joke by any means. August has always been the month when it seems lifeless ghost gain more energy. Haunting that have laid dormant gain strength. And all paranormal mayhem breaks loose in the world of the living.

  [Click here to read full article]

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Evidences of Chinese Ghost Month Perhaps?

The Hungry Ghost Month is basically the time when hungry ghosts are released from hell so that they can eat. However, because a lot of these hungry ghosts lived a negative life or died violent deaths, a lot of them still harbor ill feelings brought about their fate, so when they’re released from hell, they also tend to do bad things to us. I don’t think anybody has properly documented all the effects of the dreaded Hungry Ghost Month but some of the known effects are the following.

1)  INCREASE NUMBER OF ACCIDENTS usually happens during the Hungry Ghost month. When I was still working as a feature story producer in one of the leading broadcast media in the Philippines I worked on a story about the rate of accidents here in the Philippines. Again, an accident happens all throughout the year, however, there’s an increase number of accidents happening around August. More than that accidents that happened in August tends to be more severe thus taking more lives.

2)INCREASE NUMBER OF CRIME also happens during the Hungry Ghost Month. Again, in the same feature show that I produced for, we did a story about crime. We went to three different police stations in QC, Manila, and Pasig. Surprisingly, crime rates increases sometime around August, more than that the crimes that increased is not holdup or petty theft, what increases are murder and homicide.

3)INCREASE NUMBER OF HOSPITAL DEATHS AND/OR UNEXPLAINABLE MEDICAL PROBLEMS FROM USUAL MEDICAL PROCEDURES also happens. The same Filipina nurse I mentioned to you in the earlier part of this post also said that there are more deaths and normal medical procedures going wrong around August. When I was doing the accident and crime story, I was able to verify that indeed hospitals have more deaths occurring around August.

4)INCREASE CHANCES OF BUSINESS FAILURE also happens during the Hungry Ghost Month. A Taiwanese media outfit also conducted on a the effects of the Hungry Ghost Month on business, their research showed that more business close or starts to go bankrupt around the Hungry Ghost Month, furthermore, businesses that were opened during the Hungry Ghost Month tend to do badly.

  [Click here to read full article]

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Ghost Festival in Thailand

Phi Ta Khon is a type of masked procession celebrated on the first day of a three-day Buddist merit-making holiday know in Thai as "Boon Pra Wate". The annual festival takes place in May, June or July at a small town of Dan Sai in the northeastern province of Loei.

Participants of the festival dress up like ghosts and monsters wearing huge masks made from carved coconut-tree trunks, topped with a wicker-work sticky-rice steamer. The Procession is marked by a lot of music and dancing

The precise origin of the Phi Ta Khon is unclear. However, it can be traced back to a traditional Buddhist folklore. In the Buddha's next to last life, he was the beloved Prince Vessandorn. The prince was said to go on a long trip for such a long time that his subjects forgot him and even thought that he was already dead. When he suddenly returned, his people were overjoyed. They welcomed him back with a celebration so loud that it even awoke the dead who then joined in all the fun.

From that time onward the faithful came to commemorate the event with ceremonies, celebrations and the donning of ghostly spirit masks. The reasons behind all the events is probably due to the fact that it was held to evoke the annual rains from the heavens by farmers and to bless crops.

[Click here to read full article]

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Oriental 7th Month in Cambodia

The 'Hungry Ghost Festival' (中元節 / 中元节 / Tết Trung Nguyên), a Chinese holiday not officially observed here in Cambodia but still kept amongst the country's Chinese, Chinese-Khmer and Vietnamese communities. My neighbors here in Phnom Penh were burning joss paper on the sidewalk several times that day and had me over to take a few photos for them.

 Celebrated on the 15th day (half-moon) of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, the Hungry Ghost Festival is the Chinese version of the Khmer P'chum Benh, that time of year the gates of the underworld are opened and the spirits released to roam the Earth, if only briefly. During this period the living (at least the Chinese and Vietnamese ones) make offerings to these souls at the pagoda and at home, both to aid and appease their ancestors, as well as other loosened spirits.

 In one of the most apparent manifestations of the festival, believers burn joss paper and place offerings to the spirits on tables and blankets in front of their homes - on the sidewalk, the balcony, porch or just inside the open gates.

  The spread of offerings is often centered on a roasted red pig, candles and burning incense, and may include things such as rice, sugar, fruit, drinks, candy, cigarettes, snacks, etc. Apparently the afterworld is similar to this one and the idea is to provide for the welfare of the deceased to help ensure a comfortable afterlife. Providing for their financial needs, joss paper, including 'ghost money' is burned, the process sending it to the dead for use as ghostly tender.
 
Traditionally, joss paper offerings were gold and silver colored paper and later stylized Chinese currency ('ghost money.') It could also include paper representations of clothing, fabric, houses and other practicalities. But times change. As the neighbor showed me the various joss offerings he was preparing for the fire I discovered that 21st century ghosts get to enjoy the niceties of modern consumerism and even the trappings of conspicuous consumption,
 
[Click here to read full article]

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Vietnam: Tết Trung Nguyên , The Chinese Version of Ghost Month

HUNGRY GHOSTS

 In Buddhist and Taoist tradition, a human who suffers from great need in life will come back as a Hungry Ghost, a restless, angry spirit constantly but futilely seeking satiety. They are often depicted as having huge bellies and tiny mouths.

 "Greed is the emotion of the hungry ghost realm. The hungry ghosts are beings with huge, hungry bellies and tiny mouths and throats. Some inhabit parched lands where there is not even a mention of water for hundreds of years. Others may find food and drink, yet if they swallow even a little through their tiny mouths, the food bursts into flames in their stomachs. Generosity unties the hard knot of greed." -Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche 

During the Festival of Hungry Ghosts (Tết Trung Nguyên in Vietnamese), it is believed that the gates of Hell open and Hungry Ghosts wander the earth freely, seeking to appease their monstrous appetites and causing trouble for the living.

 It’s an inauspicious time to begin new ventures or do important work. During the festival, people make offerings of food and paper money and other gifts to the ghosts, and pay tribute to their dead. The festival falls on the seventh lunar month. This year it will be August 15-30.

  [Click here to read full article]

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Buddhist Ghost Festival: Ullambana

Buddhist Ghost Festival:
Ullambana Buddhists from China and Taoists claim that the Ghost Festival originated with their religion but its roots are probably in Chinese folk religion and antedates both religions (see Stephen Teiser's 1988 book, The Ghost Festival in Medieval China). In the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhist festival Ullambana and the Ghost Festival were mixed and celebrated together.

Ullambana origin
The Buddha's joyful day To Mahayana Buddhists, the seventh lunar month is a month of joy. This is because the fifteenth day of the seventh month is often known as the Buddha's joyful day and the day of rejoice for monks.

The origins of the Buddha's joyful day can be found in various scriptures. When the Buddha was alive, his disciples meditated in the forests of India during the rainy season of summer.

Three months later, on the fifteen day of the seventh month, they would emerge from the forests to celebrate the completion of their meditation and report their progress to the Buddha. In the Ullambana Sutra, the Buddha instructs his disciple Maudgalyāyana on how to obtain liberation for his mother, who had been reborn into a lower realm, by making food offerings to the sangha on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

Because the number of monks who attained enlightenment during that period was high, the Buddha was very pleased.

 [Click here to read full article]

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7th Month of the Oriental

To the Chinese People this month is the hungry ghost festival. Other races like Malay and Indian may question why do we celebrate hungry ghost festival.

It actually depends whether you really believe in that or you doesn't believe it. Well for me, it might be half.

On the first day itself, my mum keep reminding me to come back home early. The first day was actually on the Tuesday. I had a friend gathering on the Wednesday. Around 8pm, the road should be crowded with cars but on that night the road was left with a few number of cars.

 Majority of them prefer to go back home early because this month is also the fasting month for the Muslim. Restaurants were crowded with people. People had their dinner there.

 * Coming back the Hungry Ghost festival topic: To some Chinese that believe the existence of ghost, they will make sure everyone in their family be home by 8pm. They will not let their family members to go out late at night.

This is the month where a lot of empty rooms available in every hotels. Chinese people will not go to vacation during the seventh month. They will not stay in hotel. The Ghost Festival is celebrated during the seventh month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. It also falls at the same time as a full moon, the new season, the fall harvest, the peak of Buddhist monastic asceticism, the rebirth of ancestors, and the assembly of the local community.

 During this month, the gates of hell are opened up and ghosts are free to roam the earth where they seek food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be ancestors of those who have forgotten to pay tribute to them after they had died, or those who have suffered deaths and were never given a proper ritual for a send-off.

They have long needle-thin necks because they have not been fed by their family, or it is a sign of punishment so they are unable to swallow. Family members offer prayers to their deceased relatives, offer food and drink and burn joss paper. Such paper items are only valid in the underworld, which is why they burn it as an offering to the ghosts that have come from the gates of hell. The afterlife is very similar in some aspects to the material world, and the paper effigies of material goods would provide comfort to in the afterlife.

People would also burn other things such as paper houses, cars, servants and televisions to please the ghosts. Families also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls do not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune and bad luck.

A large feast is held for the ghosts on the fourteenth day of the seventh month, where everyone brings samplings of food and places them on the offering table to please the ghosts and ward off bad luck. In some East Asian countries today, live performances are held and everyone is invited to attend. The first row of seats are always empty as this is where the ghosts sit.

The shows are always put on at night and at high volumes as the sound attracts and please the ghosts. Some shows include Chinese opera, dramas, and in some areas, even burlesque shows. These acts are better known as "Merry-making". For rituals, Buddhist and Taoists hold ceremonies to relieve ghosts from suffering, many of them holding ceremonies in the afternoon or at night (as it is believed that the ghosts are released from hell when the sun sets).

Altars are built for the deceased and priests and monks alike perform rituals for the benefit of ghosts. Monks and priests often throw rice or other small foods into the air in all directions to distribute them to the ghosts. During the evening, incense is burnt in front of the doors of each household. Incense stands for prosperity in Chinese culture, so families believe that there is more prosperity in burning more incense.

During the festival, some shops are closed as they wanted to leave the streets open for the ghosts. In the middle of each street stood an altar of incense with fresh fruit and sacrifices displayed on it. 14 days after the festival, to make sure all the hungry ghosts find their way back to hell, people flow water lanterns and set them outside their houses (a practice that can be found amongst the Japanese during Obon).

These lanterns are made by setting a lotus flower-shaped lantern on a paper boat. The lanterns are used to direct the ghosts back to the underworld, and when they go out, it symbolizes that they found their way back.

  [Click here to read full article]

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Chūgen (中元), also Ochūgen (お中元) , The Chinese Version of Ghost Month

Chūgen (中元), also Ochūgen (お中元), is an annual event in Japan on July 15, when people give gifts to their superiors and acquaintances.

One of the three days that form the sangen (三元?) of Daoism, it is sometimes considered a Zassetsu in the Japanese calendar.

Originally it was an annual event for giving gifts to the ancestral spirits. Obon (お盆?) or just Bon (盆?) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors.

This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars.

It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.

  [Click here to read full article]

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Chinese Ghost Month in Brief

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month (14th in southern China).

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in Spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in Autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals (often vegetarian meals) would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living.

Ancestor worship is what distinguishes Qingming Festival from Ghost Festival because the latter includes paying respects to all deceased, including the same and younger generations, while the former only includes older generations. Other festivities may include, buying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities.

[Click here to read full article]

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Salamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri wishes to All Muslims

Wishing All Muslims on this very day a Happy New Year (Salamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri )
  The below are some Graphic tags for this very special day of yours









[Click here to read full article]

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Feng Shui Explanations of Hungry Ghost Month

THERE will always be opposing views on feng shui. Some believe that this ancient Chinese tradition really improves lives, while others remain clouded and doubtful about it. But for the Philippines’ Queen of Feng Shui Marites Allen, the attitude one must have is simply,

“There’s no loss in trying.” And try if you must, especially from July 31 to August 28, when the Hungry Ghost Month begins. According to feng shui, the Hungry Ghost Month happens every seventh lunar month of the year. This is the time when yin (the dark energy) is a stronger than yang.

 Because of this imbalance in which yin dominates, ghosts and local spirits feel comfortable and wander around on earth. These roaming hungry ghosts cause misfortune by feeding on people’s energies and fears.

The Hungry Ghost Month is also the Asian equivalent of Halloween in Western cultures. Meanwhile, the Hungry Ghost Day falls on the 13th of August. On this day, the Chinese believe that the Gates of Hell will open and release more hungry ghosts. Feng shui believers or not, Allen advises the public to take extra care during this time.

 Proof For feng shui skeptics, Allen has a lot to share about the Hungry Ghost Month. In 2010 alone, Philippines experienced a lot of tragedies during the same period. The worst tragedy was the hostage-taking crisis that took place on August 23, 2010—the Hungry Ghost Day—at the Quirino Grandstand killing several Hong Kong tourists. A retired policeman, Rolando Mendoza, hijacked a busload of tourists in a standoff that lasted for hours.

Eventually, Mendoza went mad and killed eight hostages. He was then taken down by the police. Another sad loss was the death of 2009 Binibining Pilipinas-International Melody Gerbach from a car accident in Camarines Sur on August 21. A string of bus accidents also happened in different provinces of the Philippines.

A bus fell from a cliff in Benguet killing 41, and another one in Quezon killing five. Eight Don Bosco students were further killed in Cebu when the bus they were riding hit a pine tree. All these incidents took place within the Hungry Ghost Month. Allen firmly believes they are all connected and concluded that people are more prone to untimely deaths and accidents.
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Chinese Ghost at Fault for August Stocks ?

Is the “Ghost Month” to blame for the recent rollercoaster ride in stock markets around the world? During the first two weeks of August, stock markets worldwide had a freefall, went back up again, slid again, then back up once more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), for example: plummeted 4.31% on August 4 after credit rating agency S&P downgraded the United States declined 5.5% more on August 8 bounced back 3.98% on August 9 fell another 4.6% on August 10 but rose 3.9% on August 11 And it’s probably just starting.

U.S. stocks were not the only ones in a whirlwind these first weeks of August. As seen in the chart below, stock exchanges in the UK, Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines all went through a crazy round of market volatility.

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Oregon Chang of Asiaparanormal delivers Speech on Chinese Ghost in Red at Toastmasters Club

Click to view the speech made by Master Oregon Chang At ToastMasters on Aug 16 , the eve of the Chinese 7th month Hungry ghost festival.

The topic is on the Chinese Ghost in Red Articles are taken from :

Chinese Ghost in Red   [Click here to read Chinese Ghost in Red]
Chinese Ghost in Red Method [Click here to read Chinese Ghost in Red Method]
Real Cases of Ghost in Red , Taiwan [Click here to read Real Cases of Chinese Ghost in Red]
Bedok Reservoir Cursed with bad Feng Shui ?
 [Click here to read Bedok Reservoir Cursed with bad Feng Shui ?]
False Alarm of Ghost in Red in 2011 ( China Beijing Subway Train)
[Click here to read False Alarm of Ghost in Red ?]


By Contributor : Chan ShiJie

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Abraham Lincoln face appears in Clouds

It usually takes a little bit of Hollywood magic to convincingly make a cloud look like a person's face, but a man in New Brunswick, Canada might have seen the real thing.

 In the video , shot by YouTube user "denisfarmer" and posted on accuweather.com, the clouds are moving fast, which is actually pretty typical for a big storm front like this one. As they do, a man's profile seems to emerge, and even resembles Abraham Lincoln at one point.

 

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Dies and Back Alive and Die again

A two-year-old Brazilian boy, who was declared dead, sat up in his coffin and asked for water before laying back down again lifeless.

According to Website ORM, Kelvin Santos stopped breathing during treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in Belem, northern Brazil, News.com.au reported. The boy was declared dead at 7.40pm on Friday and his body was handed over to his family in a plastic bag.

 The child's devastated family took him home where grieving relatives held a wake throughout the night as the boy's body laid in an open coffin. But just an hour before his funeral was to take place on Saturday, the boy apparently sat up in his coffin and said asked his father for water.

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