THE HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL is a Buddhist and Taoist festival usually celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. This is a period of ancestral veneration, when hungry spirits visit their families for food. Ghost money, or “joss paper,” and symbolic items are burned for the spirits while rituals transmute their suffering. It is believed to have been started by the Buddhist monk Mulian.
MULIAN RESCUES HIS MOTHER
Inspired by folklore
Mulian was one of Buddha’s closest disciples, gifted with supernatural powers. He teleported to heaven to see his parents but only found his father.
Dread filled Mulian as he raced into hell and found his mother’s emaciated spirit. He offered food to her, but it burst into flames.
He returned to our realm and asked Buddha for help.
Buddha nod
