This year's Hungry Ghost Festival begins on Thursday (Aug 13) and ends on Sept 10, with the 15th day — also known as Ghost Day — occurring on Aug 27. The festival is rooted in folklore that the gates of hell open during the seventh lunar month, allowing spirits to return to the living world to look for food. It is with this belief that many Chinese make offerings of food, joss sticks, candles, paper money and other paper effigies such as houses, cars and clothes to the dead. These offerings are not only made to ancestors but also to wandering spirits in the hope that they will be appeased and hence refrain from disturbing the living. Do…
