Chinese Hungry Daemon and Ghost Festival: Exile and Return

Abstract

The paper deals with the Chinese Hungry Demon and Ghost Festival, which falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the birthday of the Ruler of the Earth. On that day, it is believed that he descends upon the Earth to record good and bad deeds, right and wrong actions. Originally, the festival was called The Mid-Origin Festival. There are two important phenomena connected with it, namely, death and the immortality of soul. Each of the Chinese worldviews, Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism, has its own answers to these questions. In this light, it is also possible to talk about different approaches to both these phenomena and the perception of the festival itself. As all Chinese festivals connected with “ghosts” and “demons” imply a need for sincerity, simplicity and spontaneity, and as if by an unwritten rule involve “confession”, “pity”, “repentance” and prayer, they are a point of convergence for a whole range of different beliefs, skills, arts and knowledge, which are part of the Hungry Demon and Ghost Festival. In this paper, we will attempt to shed light on the nature, role and significance of this festival in the context of the wide diversity of the Chinese civilization matrix.