Walk with the dead during Taiwan's Ghost Month

In the northeastern part of Taiwan lays the sleepy port city of Keelung. Gazing out to the ocean in its north and cut off from neighbouring counties by mountains on all other sides, the city is relatively quiet for most of the year. Throughout the seventh lunar month, however, it transforms into a ghost town where spirits of the dead walk amongst the living who honour them through offerings, parades, performances and sacrificial rituals.

This eerie time is known throughout Taiwan as Ghost Month, but nowhere are the traditions stronger than in Keelung’s Mid-Summer Ghost Festival. While its origins are unknown, Ghost Month can be traced back to both Buddhist and Taoist roots. The festival called ‘Chongyuan Chieh’ in Mandarin uses the Taoist term, which refers to the title of the deity Tikuan, the Chinese Guardian of Hell who governs the underworld and whose birthday falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. It is said that out of mercy, Tikuan declared an amnesty so that lost souls could return the world of the living for one month.

The Ghost Festival is an offering to these spirits to build social harmony and protect the living from eternal suffering in the afterlife. The living must be loud and boisterous to avoid unpleasant intermingling of the afterlife during their brief time on earth, and do so through lavish feasts to satisfy the dead, and grand opera performances keep them entertained.

This tradition is said to originate from the Buddhist Ullambana. According to Ullambana scriptures, the mother of one of Buddha’s disciples had been condemned to eternal torture and salvation as punishment for the sins she committed on earth. The disciple traveled to the depths of hell to offer his mother food, but it all vanished before reaching her mouth. The disciple turned to Buddha for help, who advised him to prepare more food for the monks so that they would aid him in the rescue of his mother and other long-suffering souls. This tradition has been carried through Buddhist societies and is the reason the Taiwanese prepare food and festivities for the dead during this month.

One of the most important sites for the Ghost Festival celebrations is in the city of Keelung, a major port city bordering Taipei in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The festival in Keelung is one of the oldest in the country, dating back to bitter clashes over religion and resources between the rivaling Chuanchou and Changchou clans in 1851 that claimed the lives of many locals.

The Festival begins with the opening of the tower gate of the ‘Old Venerable’ Temple. The temple is home to hundreds of urns, which hold the remains of ancient Keelung residents who died in the violent clashes. On the first day of the Ghost Festival it is believed that the gates of the underworld fly open, setting loose the spirit of deceased friends, relatives and enemies.

Major rituals fall on the days between the twelfth and fifteenth days of the seventh lunar month, following a government mandate issued in the 1950s that asserted that every household would prepare food and drinks as an offering in the sacrificial ritual known as ‘Pudu’. On the twelfth day, lamps on the main alter are lit casting spectacular rays of coloured light across the city. A parade of dipper lanterns is held on the thirteenth day of the festival and on the fifteenth, water lanterns are lit and set adrift down the city’s rivers to honor and reconcile the spirits of the drowned.

Visitors to Taiwan during this time can be lucky enough to witness sacrificial rites to deliver ghosts and ceremonial dances to welcome Chung Kwei, a deity who protects people and places from evil spirits. The presence of Chung Kwei is said to calm the ghosts and keep them from disturbing the living.

Ghost Month for 2011 officially begins on Sunday, 31 July and ends on Sunday, 28 August. The important fifteenth day celebrations of the Keelung Hungry Ghost Festival will fall on Sunday, 14 August. Keelung city has a broad range of accommodation options for all budgets and boasts a range of attractions from a spectacular coast, recreational parks and natural ecology to historical sites and gourmet food.

Aside from the eerie rituals and unique atmosphere that Ghost Month creates, the range of festivals, parades and performance also make the month a fantastic time to visit Taiwan. Gates of tombs and graveyards are left open for the month, allowing the spirits of the dead free access to the world of the living, giving the whole town an eerily spiritual atmosphere. Aside from this, the range of festivals, parades and performance also make the month a fantastic time to visit Taiwan. The festival officially ends on the first day of the eighth lunar month, with the dramatic closing of the tower gates.