im my country malaysia, there is a chinese festival called the hungry ghost festival. the chinese believe that ghost roam the streets on that night.

every year, they burn jossticks outside to ward the evil away, but every year there are ghost sightings.

this year, a school went into histeria when a headless man was walking around its coridoors.

         That would definitely scare me!!   :o

:sd There is always an eerie feeling during the hungry ghost festival. I experienced the atmosphere several times during my  stay in Singapore for several years.

A lot of Chinese during this time abstain from 'risky' or 'adventurous' activities, beleiving that spirits are out and about mingling with society  :sd

jwalker, do you know the origin of this festival?

some more info on the hungry ghost festivals origin.

http://ndnd.essortment.com/hungryghostfes_opi.htm

:sq

Thanx for that crosis,  I really enjoy reading about the  origins to festivals becaouse I really love the stories that inspired them :s09

i also heard a story like that, but the characters were all chinese nobleman and royalty.

ever year, during the festival, there will be endless accounts of ghosts walking around.

Anyway, it's the 7th lunar month now which happens to be Hungry Ghost Festival. This year, hungry ghost festival will be going on for 2 months rather than the usual 1 month. Actually there's nothing to be scared of. My mom tells me to abstain from going swimming, or hanging out too late at night.

The festival sounds great to me. Lots of fun.
I hope someday much of the this festival could be added to and blended with the Halloween that we got from Europe somehow.
Thanks to the fundies much of our ghost festival has gone flat, even with the Day of the Dead festival infusions from Mexico.
Perhaps if the Chinese festival were included it could become a multcultural event and bring a lot of the old fun and joy back.