Chinese Halloween 中 zhōng 元 yuán 节 jié

1. Chinese Halloween中zhōng 元yuán 节jié 林lín老lăo师shī WARNING: Viewer discretion advised. Content contains scary images that may not be suitable for scardy-cats. Please follow teachers instructions to close eyes when scary images appear. If you wet your pants in terror, please feel free to leave the room and change.

2. Ghost Month 鬼guǐ 月yuè • Ghost Month runs for the entire 7th month of the lunar calendar. • On the 1st day of the 7th month, the gates of hell open!鬼guǐ门mén开kāi

3. Ghost Month 鬼guǐ 月yuè • After the gates open, all the ghosts come out for a one month “vacation”. During this time, the living try to be nice to the ghosts by feeding them. • This is called普pŭ渡dù.

4. 中zhōng 元yuán 节jié • On the 15th day, many people prepare feasts for all the ghosts that have not been “taken care” of. • Descendants “take care” of their deceased ancestors by offering them food, paper money, burning incense etc.

5. What to prepare • the Chinese believe that deceased people also need food, clothing, and money, so they worship the ghosts with these things. Warning: scary image coming.

6. Everyone needs money • Paper money纸zhǐ钱qián is the currency used in the afterlife. The deceased receive the money after it is burned. The more you burn, the richer the ghosts become. Items needed in the next life are printed on the paper money.

7. Beware of the ghosts • Even though “鬼guǐ ” is the term for “ghost”, people prefer not to sayit because if you say鬼guǐ, ghosts will think you are looking for them, and come to you. • Therefore, “好hăo兄xiōng弟dì” (Good buddy), or “阿ā 飘piāo ” (Floaty) is used to talk about ghosts. Warning: scary image coming. You are about to eye-witness a ghost caught on camera.

8. Our ghosts are different from yours We don’t have handsome vampires (吸xī血xiě鬼guǐ“suck blood ghost”) like Edward. We have blood sucking zombies (僵jiāng尸shī“stiff corpse”) that cannot walk, only jump due to their stiff knees. Warning: scary image coming. You are about to eye-witness two real zombies. Chinese version of a Ghost Buster

9. Ghost Month Taboos 禁忌 • Becausethe “good buddies” are wandering around, the living need to be cautious about doing certain things: During the day time people…. • do not get married • do not moveto a new house • don’t buy new cars or house • stay away from water (beach, river, pool) because the ghosts that drown are looking to find a living person to “replace” them.

10. Ghost Month Taboos 禁忌 After dark people…… • Stay at home, and go to bed early. • Don’t call other people by their name, “they” will remember it. • Don’t turn theirhead when people call them. Who knows what is calling? • Don’t tap on others’ shoulder or head to get their attention. (Everyone has an invisible light around them, touching their head or shoulder puts out the light and allows the ghosts to come and harass)

11. Ghost Month Taboos 禁忌 • Two things should be away from your bed: 鞋xié子zi Ghosts think shoes point in the direction of the living, so shoes should point away from your bed 风fēng铃líng they summon ghosts

12. Taboo 禁忌 • Never stick the chopsticks in your rice!!!

13. 关guān鬼guǐ 门mén • At the end of Ghost Month, all the ghosts are supposed to go back to the dark side. • If not, 牛niú头tóu马mă面miàn (Mr. Cow Head & Mr. Horse Face) will go and get them, so we can have another peaceful year……