Hungry Ghost Festival customs in Hong Kong
In general, the Chinese will keep with the cultural notion of filial piety and present offerings to the souls of deceased family members, in the hopes that they will be comfortable and well looked after in the afterlife. Families who have altars or ancestral tablets and pictures set up at home will regularly offer incense and fresh food. You will also often see people putting out offerings of food and drink for unknown wandering souls with no one to look after them, as well as burning joss paper, or paper money from the Bank of Hell, so that departed loved ones will have spending money.
There are also more elaborate offerings for those who want to ensure material comforts for these souls even in hell. Paper effigies of cars, mansions—often complete with servants—television sets, and clothes are all commonly seen being offered. In recent years, people would also keep with the times and burn paper effigies of modern technology such as smartphones, tablets, and even gaming devices. If you have departed family members who were fashion-forward, we suppose there’s no reason why they shouldn’t still be able to embrace couture in the afterlife; shops will even sell paper models of Louis Vuitton bags and other such branded items!
Apart from offerings and paying tribute to the deceased, live performances are also held to provide these wandering souls with entertainment. First initiated by the Chiuchow community in Hong Kong, Chinese opera performances are set up on elaborately created temporary bamboo stages all over the territories. This festivity has even been officially recognised as part of our Intangible Cultural Heritage. These eye-catching shows are always held at night, and while the living are more than welcome to attend, the first couple of rows of seats are always left empty, specially reserved for souls.
Buddhist and Taoist ceremonies are also held throughout the day to appease spirits and ease their suffering, through offerings of incense and the chanting of spiritual scriptures. Often, these ceremonies will include the throwing of rice or other small food items such as buns or dumplings into the air, to symbolically be distributed among the dead; some Chinese opera performances will also be concluded in such a manner.
On the last day of the festival, you might also come across people giving away free rice. This rice is actually donated to community organisers of Hungry Ghost festivities, in order for their names to be listed on their ‘Golden Chart’ as a sign of good merit—think of it as gathering good karma in this life for a better afterlife!