Hungry Ghost Festival – Festivities for the living and the dead

The hungry ghost festival takes place every year on the 15th day of the 7th month in the lunar calendar, which in 2015, falls on the 28th of August. The festival is celebrated in many East Asian countries and is a traditional Buddhist and Taoist festival that is the equivalent of Halloween. The belief is that during this month, the gates of hell are opened up and the ghosts of ancestors roam the earth seeking food and entertainment. To pacify these ghosts, believers make offerings of hell money and paper gifts bearing the image of items such as jewellery and cars that are burned by relatives in order to take care of the deceased’s material needs in the afterlife. These offerings can be seen scattered around residential areas in metal bins. Various concerts and entertainment acts are also scheduled throughout the month, and it is as much for the enjoyment of the dead as it is for the living, as the first row of red seats at these events are specifically reserved for the ghosts and it is considered bad luck to sit in them.

Travellers to Malaysia during this period will find festivities to be fairly common place as they are mostly organized and funded by the communities themselves. Those planning a long stay might consider serviced apartments nusajaya a practical option, in particular the Somerset Puteri Harbour Nusajaya. It is conveniently located close to a number of restaurants, cafes and theme parks, as well as being just 20 minutes away from the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link causeway.