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Growing up in Hong Kong, I haven't heard of the term Zhong Yuan Jie, but Ghost Festival was a big thing, and it was celebrated on the 14th of the 7th month in the Lunar Calendar.
Isn't it the 15th of the month, not the fourteenth? That's what the "Chinese Calendar" page says -- there must be an error in one of these two pages. According to the Hong Kong Observatory, today (August 19th) is the 15th day, and, as I write this, there are people burning shit on the streets outside my apartment (in Dalian). (unsigned comment)
I've added 鬼月 as another name as that's the only thing i've ever heard it called. Can't say I've ever heard 中元节 here on the mainland. Yung Wei (talk) 12:07, 23 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This article is confusing. Is the festival on the fourteenth or the fifteenth day of the seventh month? In the beginning, the first paragraph states fourteenth, then it states fifteenth in the next sentence. Furthermore, why on earth is Qingming suddenly mentioned in the second paragraph? Isn't that a completely different festival? Could somebody who actually knows what they're talking about take a look at this article and fix it? Wolf ODonnell (talk)
It is both, on the fourteen and the fifteen, the Daoist 'celebrates' it generally on the fourteen whilst the Buddhist on fifteen. The namesake of 中元节 actually dates back to northern wei, despite of what Yung Wei wrote. Agreed with Wolf ODonnell that Qingming shouldn't come into the intro, as both festival are about filial piety. The difference according to the Daoists, is that spirits do not roam the realm of Livings during Qingming- they are limited to the vicinity of their tombs or graves; during 中元节, they are. I'd like to include something to that effect however there is no citable source. (talk)
I noticed there is a comment inside the main article. I've removed it since it belongs here. The comment in question, "In which Buddhist sutra, did the Buddha set on the 14th day of 7th lunar month??? Ullambana or Zhong Yuan Jie is in fact on the fullmoon day (15th day) of the 7th month); the reason the rituals practiced today is on the 14th day is because it's customarily practised on the midnight of the 15th, very much like the celebration of Jade Emperor's birthday which starts on the eve of the ninth day of the first lunar month. Due to long-hour ceremony of ancestral worship and charitable rituals for the hungry ghost, many started to do it on the 14th day instead." Wasill37 (talk) 00:42, 12 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Similarity to El Día de los Muertos (day of the dead)
If there is consensus, can we remove "The Ghost Festival shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of El Día de los Muertos."? Please comment.
Well, Qing Ming seems more like, mmm, All Souls Day (as in: the time when you go to your ancestors' graves and tidy them up) while Ghost Festival is more like Dia de los Muertos (as in: when the spirits come back to check out their descendants). I realize All Souls and Dia de los Muertos are the same day on the calendar, but I always associate the Mexican festival with the skeleton decor and the All Souls with Catholics in general. -grant (talk) 15:19, 28 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I certainly believe the lines that mention Dia de los Muertos and Chinese Halloween should be removed altogether, or at the very least, removed from the lede. There is no direct relationship between the Dia de los Muertos and Ghost Festival. It's equivalent to mentioning Chinese Red Egg party and Easter in the same article - why not? they both use eggs and celebrate renewal of life. But no, we don't. One does not relate to the other. They don't share common origins, nor do they "borrow" traditions. They came about independently. And where in that reference does anyone mention Ghost Festival being called "Chinese Halloween"? That reference is irrelevant. I've never heard that term used. I say we remove the paragraph about El Dia de los Muertos and Chinese Halloween. Paranoid123 (talk) 15:08, 26 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The accuracy of this article is questionable, at least vis-a-vis the Chinese version of the festival. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board's website, the "Hungry Ghost Festival" ("Yue Laan Festival", 盂蘭節 [1]), which occurs on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, is distinct from the "Autumn Remembrance Festival" ("Chung Yeung Festival", 重陽節 [2]), which occurs on the 9th day of the 9th lunar month. The former is where the Chinese burn paper goods and make food offerings to appease spirits who are released from the netherworld on this day each year to revisit their former families. Traditional Chinese belief is that burning paper representations of material goods and money will provide spirits material wealth in the afterlife. If a family should fail to do so, the spirits of their loved ones will become impoverished in the underworld (and thus hungry) and will return on this particular day to haunt their negligent families. The latter is where the Chinese pay respects to their dearly departed by tending their graves, which traditionally required hiking out to rural burial plots. In Hong Kong, these have become an opportunity for a family outing and picnic. There is nothing peculiarly happy, unhappy, delusional or frightening about either. At least no more than any other belief system about the afterlife. They are just Chinese customs. Ejanne (talk) 11:30, 4 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm tagging this article as C-class for WikiProject Vietnam, since the Vietnamese section of this article seems lacking—very little discussion of the differences between Tết Trung Nguyên and the Chinese version. Actually, it seems as though all the regional variations of the holiday could use more explanation. Even in the case of O-Bon, which has its own article, there can be a slightly longer mention in this article. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I can fill these in. --dragfyre_ʞןɐʇc16:35, 8 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Zhong Yuan and Chuugen are the Chinese(Mandarin) and Japanese(on'yomi) reading of the same word (中元) written in Chinese characters("Kanji" in Japanese). The connection, while pretty obvious for anyone knowing the Chinese characters, isn't apparent to the typical English reader. Of course, even if it's the same festival the customs are different, but at least the connection is worth mentioning. --Ahyangyi (talk) 17:37, 30 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]
When in Taiwan in the 90s I was told that exhibitions of public nudity were an old feature of ghost month celebrations, though these were said to be increasingly rare at the time. The supposed purpose of this was to propitiate the ghosts. The article makes no mention of this. The purpose of this post is to request feedback from better informed editors as to whether it would be worthwhile searching for references with a view to documenting this aspect of the tradition. Qemist (talk) 06:40, 6 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]
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