{"id":76096,"date":"2026-08-13T02:31:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=76096"},"modified":"2026-08-13T02:31:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:31:42","slug":"7-taboos-to-avoid-during-hungry-ghost-festival-to-keep-unwanted-spirits-at-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=76096","title":{"rendered":"7 taboos to avoid during Hungry Ghost Festival to keep unwanted spirits at bay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/08\/12\/67170279-372d-49ae-9ae8-b85d715512d5_d12f42f1.jpg?itok=SwDsjqBm&amp;v=1786530694\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Hungry Ghost Festival<\/span> begins on the first day of the seventh lunar month, when it is believed that the gates of the underworld will open, allowing spirits to visit the living.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This year, that day falls on August 13. The festival will last until September 10, the final day of the seventh lunar month, when the gates of hell are shut. The apex of the festival falls on the 15th night (August 27), when it is believed the spirits are at their most active.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While welcomed ancestors are honoured, the festival \u2013 celebrated as Zhongyuan by Taoists and Yulanpen by Buddhists \u2013 places special emphasis on \u201chungry ghosts\u201d, the restless souls who died without living descendants, suffered traumatic deaths or were improperly buried. These spirits return to Earth hungry, thirsty and prone to causing mischief if ignored.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">But have no fear \u2013 a few simple precautions are all it takes to stay safe. Here are seven things you should avoid during the festival.<\/p>\n<h3 type=\"h3\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"eh0yk8h0 css-17x7qa9 e1pqa4re1\">1. Do not swim or do water sports<\/h3>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to Chinese folklore, a person who dies a traumatic, unexpected death \u2013 such as by drowning or suicide by water \u2013 suffers a grim fate. Their soul is believed to become tethered to the exact physical spot where they died.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Unlike spirits who die peacefully and pass into the underworld for judgment and reincarnation, a water ghost remains trapped in a cold, dark, submerged state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3363790\/7-taboos-avoid-during-hungry-ghost-festival-keep-unwanted-spirits-bay?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hungry Ghost Festival begins on the first day of the seventh lunar month, when it is believed that the gates of the underworld will&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2839,545,1901,4374,12346,7391,28143,28144],"class_list":["post-76096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-avoid","tag-bay","tag-festival","tag-ghost","tag-hungry","tag-spirits","tag-taboos","tag-unwanted","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}