This year, my mum sent me the “Survival Guide to the Hungry Ghost Festival”. It included tips such as “don’t stick your chopsticks in rice, otherwise hungry ghosts might mistake your food for offerings”, and “try to avoid swimming at night, because drowned ghosts might drag you under water”.
The Hungry Ghost Festival, or Zhong Yuan Jie, is a traditional festival in parts of Asia, which falls in August. During the festival, the gates of hell are opened and deceased ancestors are free to roam the earth. The ghosts are believed to be those who were never given a proper send off.
I remember visiting family in Malaysia during the Hungry Ghost Festival a few years ago. The streets were lined with the smell of burning joss paper and papier-mache clothes, mobile phones and luxury cars for ghosts who were visiting. As my cousin instructed me of the do’s and don’ts, she then reassured me that because I was vegan, my body was more “pure” than others, and that I had a less of a chance of being possessed.
Another year during the festival, a different cousin was visited by our Ama in his dream. She had come back to tell him she was never laid to rest properly and wasn’t peaceful in her afterlife. He, of course, passed the information back to my family and after almost 20 years since her passing, they exhumed her body and cremated her so she could finally be laid to rest.
"The streets were lined with the smell of burning joss paper and papier-mache clothes, mobile phones and luxury cars for ghosts who were visiting." Source: Getty Images
As peculiar as some of these traditions and beliefs may seem, I grew up with many more just like this – some less logical than others, but most of which I never questioned.
As peculiar as some of these traditions and beliefs may seem, I grew up with many more just like this – some less logical than others, but most of which I never questioned.
There were the more rational beliefs, such as the notion of eating too much deep-fried food would give you a sore throat, or that sleeping with your hair wet would give you a headache, which I can kind of see the reasoning behind. And of course, the idea that everything can be cured by drinking water. Anytime I was sick, my mum would tell me to drink more water. If I was sad? Drink water.
Then there were the less rational beliefs. For example, if you cut your fingernails at night someone your family would die. Whether it’s a superstition or not, I’ve never taken the chance and still only cut my fingernails in the daytime. Then there were all the times I’d be scolded for leaving rice in my bowl, because doing so meant that it’d be hard for me to earn money.
Whether it’s a superstition or not, I’ve never taken the chance and still only cut my fingernails in the daytime.
I can (kind of) see the reasoning behind of these superstitions. Such as it being impolite to gift someone a clock or watch, since “giving a clock” (sòng zhōng) sounds a lot like “attending someone’s funeral” (sòng zhōng). Then there’s the folklore about how you shouldn’t wear green hats, since during the Yuan Dynasty, those who wore green hats were people who had been cheated on.
As much as my family are obsessed with luck, the colour red or the number eight, and as much as they talk about how everything – instant noodles, standing near the microwave, anything with food colouring – will give you cancer, there’s one superstition that’s stuck with me my whole life – and that’s the one about teeth.
Growing up I was the only one in my friendship group who didn’t have braces. Every dentist I saw would always be shocked when I’d tell them my teeth are naturally straight. It always made me think of when I was little, and how my mum would collect my teeth as they’d fall out. She’d throw the bottom teeth on the roof and bury my top teeth in the ground so they’d grow in the right direction.
Although it saddened me that I was never visited by the Tooth Fairy, I’m glad to have saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars off dentist bills thanks to my mum.
