Almost as like as Celtic Samhain is the All Souls’ Day, Asian Hungry Ghost Festival. It is a time to worship ancestors and help the wandering spirits roaming the earth. Yulan, as it’s also called, lasts from two to four weeks, and begins on August 12 this year.
Nowadays, this event is taking place in China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, and other Asian countries with similar Buddhist or Hindu traditions.
Table of Contents
History
Yulan origins go back to one of Theravada’s sacred scriptures, the oldest Buddhist tradition born out in Sri Lanka. That’s called Petavatthu, «Ghost Stories» and dates back to around the 3rd century BC.
One of those stories got to India and became described in Yulanpen Sutra (from the Mahayana teachings in 200-300 AD.), which was translated and adapted in China in the sixth century and that’s really when the Yulan began.
A story from ancient codices tells about rituals and offerings performed by the living to help the dead leave Preta – a transition state between death and reincarnation. Preta means «hungry ghost» in Sanskrit.
Release of hungry ghosts from eternal suffering is the festival extant basis.
Making offerings
Celebration starts on the full moon of the seventh month, which in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Month, because that’s when the gateway between the world of the dead and the living opens. The ghosts walk around in search of food and distractions.
It’s believed that their state depends on lifetime merit: some of them are thirsty or starving, are freezing or overheated, others suffer from fear, some come to hurt people, or to enjoy material things if they had such an attachment in life.
Therefore, people try to do their best to meet the needs of spirits. Townsfolk leave gifts as treats and spices in front of all the homes, at the same time making merit transfer practices at the temples. They’re throwing merrily roaring parties and are crafting sham luxury goods: designer bags, technology devices, and even cars made of papier mâché fill the city’s streets. They organize colorful theatrical performances, concerts, and shows for all tastes everywhere these days. And what’s interesting about this is that the front rows are always free for ghosts to take seats.
Hell Money
Perhaps the most exciting sight is the burning ritual of fake paper banknotes called «hell money». Though initially it was a sort of court voucher for payment in the netherworld. But Christian missionaries interpreted it differently because they thought that all Chinese «gentiles» go to hell after death. Since then, this English word christened the general notion of the afterlife, and thus caught on turning vouchers into Hell banknotes.
The banknotes each feature a portrait of some deity, such as the Buddhist Yama, who is the chief judge of the universe and rules the fates of all the dead. We associate him with Satan. Or Taoist Yu Dì – the Jade Emperor in possession of the whole celestial chancellery. In contemporary culture, his figure, surrounded by a light atmosphere, plays out as an image of some office clerk, embodying together the majesty and absurdity of the bureaucratic system.
Hell money usually issued in the fantastic denomination ranges up to a billion dollars. Sometimes you can witness a really gigantic flaming heap, which is why this action may seem a little crazy to the unprepared eye.
Fiery swirls billowing out pounds and pounds of money into the sky make this truly a sight to remember.
Send-off
In most traditions, Yulan ends with running paper boats down the river. Filled with candles, they light up the dark of the night, showing the path to the lost souls.
