Festival of the Hungry Ghosts

For the past few weeks, I saw a sign in the lobby of our apartment that says something to the effect of "In anticipation of the upcoming Yue Lan Festival, Management respectfully requests that residents not burn incense or papers in the building." Note to self, pyromaniacs not allowed in the building, good to know.

Marc gets 2 days off from work at the end of September, so I figured it had something to do with those holidays. Except upon further research, I found out he gets off September 26 for the Day after the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and October 1 for National Day. None of those were Yue Lan Festival.... hmmm...

Then, on 2 different occasions in the past week, I saw a Local burning something in a large tin can out on the sidewalk. Seeing little incense shrines on the sidewalk next to the front door of a store or temple is not a big deal, but burning something in a can? I could see flames!

So, yesterday, using my extraordinary powers of research, I opened up my Frommers guidebook to Festivals. It says:

"August - Yue Lan Festival (Festival of the Hungry Ghosts). [Editor's Note: EUREKA!] Released from the underworld, ghosts are believed to roam the earth for 1 lunar month each year. Religious ceremonies, street performances, and offerings of food and paper replicas of life's necessities are burned to appease the spirits of discontented ghosts (those who were murdered, died without proper funeral rites, or are without descendants to care for them), in an attempt to prevent the unhappy souls from seeking vengeance on humans."

Then, I looked up when the Yue Lan Festival is supposed to occur in 2007 and HOLY BATMAN, it says August 26! This was too coincidental. Understanding now *why* the Locals were burning stuff in the tin cans but not necessarily *why* they would feel the need, I was on a mission yesterday to find this ritual taking place.

At about 9:30 pm last night, on the way to IKEA, SUCCESS!

Yes ladies and gentleman, that is a Local burning paper in a tin can on the sidewalk, in the middle of Causeway Bay. The lady in black with her back turned to us was helping him by feeding more paper, presumably "replicas of necessities," into the can. The round orange things just below the curb are oranges with incense sticks sticking out of them.

For the record, we just witnessed this ritual, Marc and I did not burn anything and no animals were hurt during the ritual. However, I'm now convinced that we will be haunted by discontented ghosts and couldn't sleep last night because I thought I kept hearing someone rummaging through the pantry.