| History
One of the more important festivals in the Chinese culture is the Ghost Festival, which holds special significance to the Chinese community, as it is the most important time of ancestor worshipping. The Ghost Festival also known in Chinese as Zhongyuan Yulan Jie, stretches the seventh lunar month.
The most important day of the month to the Buddhist community is the Yulan Jie which holds significance for a time when the dead are redeemed. The literary Sanskrit translation of yulan is "emancipation from suffering". The Yulan Jie traces its origin to the Buddhist legend of Mu Lian, whose devout tutelage under Buddha granted him mystical powers to behold his mother's agony in hell. It was said that his mother led a miserly mortal life and was doomed to live eternity as a hungry ghost in the bowels of hell. Too distress to see his mother in such a state, Mu rushed to feed her some rice that was instantaneously reduced to ashes. Mu seeked the counsel of Buddha to relieve his mother's pain but Buddha said that the only way to balance the sins committed by her was to offer an assortment of fruits and vegetables in yulan bowls to the Buddhists monks. This time honored tradition continued as offerings of fruits and vegetables were made to Buddhists monks to pay the penance of past generations.
The Ghost Festival is a period when the spirits of the dead roam free on mortal realms. It originally started as the period for ancestor worshiping or paying homage to their dead kin. But then the Keeper of Hell decided to allow the gates of hell to be opened for the whole duration for the spirits to be reunited with their mortal families. Nevertheless, the ghosts must return to their spiritual residence.
Culture
The Ghost Festival is a colorful period where each Chinese household will place a table of food, incense and joss paper money to appease the meandering restless ghosts. The ghosts will return to their mortal home to feast on offerings and collect the joss money to be spent back in their underworld. Another interesting feature of the Ghost Festival are when the Chinese folk post drawings of Zhong Kui, the ghost catcher whose specialty is to devour the ghosts that he catches. This act serves to scare away any roving spirits from intruding the particular household.
During the festival month, families visit the graves of their dearly departed to worship their ancestors and light lotus lanterns on rivers and seas so that the dead can use the light to find their way back. Another interesting trivia about lotus lanterns is that because the flower symbolizes purity, its lighted with a candle in it and allowed to float down the river. The kins of drowning victims will follow the trails of the lanterns until they are out of sight to liberate their souls.
Chinese Temple Opera is another unique not only in terms of its style but also in its main audience. The operas were originally performed with only one audience in mind, the ghosts. It was only in recent times, that the public was allowed to enjoy the performances as well. Temple operas during the Ghost festival are performed in great reverence due to its significance. The show is normally played at evenings or dusk and it begins with an elaborate incense burning and prayer act. | 
