Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: LA Chinatown Hungry Ghost Festival

Saturday, September 6, 2025

LA Chinatown Hungry Ghost Festival

Burning "hell money"!?!

A burnt offering to benefit the deceased

"Hell money" (Chinese 冥鈔, Pinyin míngchāo) is a modernized form of joss paper printed to resemble legal tender bank notes. The notes are not an official form of recognized currency or legal tender [except among greedy ghosts] as their sole intended purpose is to be offered as burnt offerings to the deceased as a solution to resolve their assumed monetary problems in the afterlife. This ritual has been practiced by modern Chinese and across East Asia since the late 19th century, and some Wicca-based pagan traditions in recent years have adopted this practice [1]. Early 20th century examples bore resemblance to minor commercial currency of the type issued by businesses across China until the mid-1940s [2]. The identification of this type of joss paper as "hell bank notes" or "hell money" is largely a Western construct, since these items are simply regarded as yet another form of joss paper (冥幣, 陰司紙, 紙錢, or 金紙) in East Asian cultures and have no special name or status. More: Hell money

FREE: The Los Angeles Hungry Ghost Festival: Sunday, Sept. 7, 4:00 pm

They're hungry. Will there be food?

This is the second annual festival. Through performance, ritual altars, and community celebration, we honor our departed ancestors and appease hungry ghosts. Building on last year’s success, this year’s festival features lion dance and Zodiac play by The East Wind Foundation for Youth, live music by Micah Huang and Annie Zhou, dance performances by The Sunset Light Dance Team, and martial arts demonstrations by Misako. Activities for youth include cultural crafts tables, face paint station, bouncy house, and a scavenger hunt. The festival is FREE and open to the public. More

Sunday, Sept. 7th, 2025, 4:00-7:00 pm
Alpine Recreation Center, Chinatown
LA Chinatown Hungry Ghost Festival

The REAL Hungry Ghost Festival is on September 5 or 6, 2025. Here's why

Gods of Death across mythology and folklore | Watch

Are hungry ghosts evil demons? No, those are hellions. Ghosts are the departed.

The dearly departed are still here.

(The Blue Cats by Goody Feed) Many people often confuse the Hungry Ghost Festival with the start of the seventh month in the lunisolar calendar, but they’re not the same.

The seventh month, beginning on August 23, 2025, is known as Ghost Month. During this period, it is believed that the Gates of Hell and Heaven open, allowing restless spirits to enter the human world.

However, not all of these spirits are “hungry ghosts” (petas or pretas). The term usually refers to those who passed away tragically or without proper funerary rituals, while many others are thought to simply visit their loved ones.

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Tradition holds that offerings are made to appease these spirits, but most people only make offerings on the first day of Ghost Month and then forget.

As the days pass, the neglected spirits are said to grow hungrier and angrier. By the 15th day, their hunger supposedly reaches its peak, which is why this day is considered the Hungry Ghost Festival.

This explains why offerings on the 15th day are so important. The Hungry Ghost Festival, then, is not the entire month but just that one crucial day.

For 2025, this falls on September 6, the 15th day of Ghost Month. Some groups, particularly Chinese Cantonese-speaking communities, choose to make offerings on the 14th instead.

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This is partly because the number four sounds like “death” in Cantonese and Mandarin, making the 14th symbolically significant. Another explanation comes from old timekeeping systems where the hours from 11:00 pm to 1:00 am spanned two days, meaning some regarded the 14th as the proper day.

Business enquiries: business.thebluecats.com.sg. The Blue Cats' Instagram: singaporethebluecats

How can I transfer merit to benefit the dead?

The possibility of merit transfer became widely known by the story Mulian Rescues His Mother

There are many Buddhist hells.

Transferring a gift of merit (Sanskrit pariṇāmanā, Pali pattidāna or pattānumodanā) is a standard part of Theravada Buddhist spiritual discipline.

The Buddhist practitioner's merit, resulting from wholesome deeds, is transferred to deceased relatives (the grateful dead), to deities (devas), or to ALL sentient beings.

Such a "transfer" is done ritually and mentally, and it is believed that the recipient (the ghost, the deceased person) can often receive this merit, if that recipient rejoices in the meritorious acts of the person doing the transferring.

In Buddhism, merit transfer (sending beneficial karma) is seen as a much better alternative to mourning.

Pouring overflowing water in ceremony

Scholars have discussed how the doctrine of transfer of merit can be reconciled with the individual nature of karma in Buddhism.

[How can it work? Everyone's karma is one's own. The giver generates skillful karma by giving with the intention to give, which gives the recipient the chance to share in that good karma by rejoicing (pattanumo) over such kindness, compassion, and giving (dana).] More: Transfer of merit