Seventh Month...

I'm one of those, fascinated by the paranormal phenomena...anything to do with ghost, UFO, bermuda triangle, jersey devil, anything...not that i believe them or not, just fascinated...and this coming seventh month of the chinese calendar making it more interesting...why you ask? supposedly there's 2 seventh months this year...and still why you ask? read on...

The seventh month of the chinese calendar month is also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival (HGF). Since there's 2 seventh months, it makes it more interesting, remember your mother and grandma told you not to leave your house after dark :-). However, as claimed HGF is *celebrated* only once eventhough there's 2 seventh months.

BTW, before talking about HGF, you'll be wondering why there's 2 seventh months. According to the Chinese lunar calendar which is based on the movement of the moon and sun (duh..). A lunar year has got 12 months with 29 or 30 days compared to our *normal* calendar which has 30 or 31 days except for Feb. Based on this, there's a *short* of couple of days..to compensate for these days, a leap month (not too sure how often though!) is required, like the *normal* calendar leap year (every four years 1 day extra to Feb).

Back to our main topic, this year's leap month is the seventh month aka HGF, so twice the fun? After doing *some* research, HGF is not a religion thingy, it has nothing to do with Buddhism or Toaism but just plain Chinese old folks believe..the believe of ghost wandering around roaming the streets after dark.

During this month, you can see people preparing offerings of food and *paper money* by the road side. It is believed that during this time, the gates of Hades are wide open releasing spirit in to our world...ooh spooky....they so call *lepak* with us lah...these offering are to please them as some say they're harmful. Some go to the extend of providing entertainment like chinese opera shows, not for us living souls though.

to be continued...and oh yes! the seventh month starts July 25th to Aug 23rd..the 1st month lah