Hungry Ghost festival – too good a moniker to change
Posted by otterman on 4 August 2008
Chiang Bak Hoi wrote to The Straits Times (23rd July 2008) to complain,
HUNGRY GHOST IMPROPRIETY‘Call it the Seventh Month Festival.’
CHIANG BAK HOI: ‘The seventh lunar month begins on Aug 1. The English media like to refer to it as the Hungry Ghost Festival. The name may arouse curiosity for those who hear or read it for the first time, but it is not appropriate. Chinese all over the world who observe, celebrate or believe in it do not call the festival or month by that name. All Chinese media do not use the name. If we cannot come up with a better name for the festival, I suggest we call it the Seventh Month Festival or Zhong Yuan Jie. Perhaps the Taoist Association or other Chinese associations can help to come up with a better name.’
The Taoist Mission responded (1st August 2008):
MASTER TAN ZHIXIA, TAOIST MISSION (SINGAPORE): ‘I refer to the letter, ‘Hungry Ghost impropriety’ by Mr Chiang Bak Hoi (July 23). The Taoist Mission (Singapore) shares the same sentiments as Mr Chiang. The Hungry Ghost Festival is an inappropriate term for the Seventh Month Festival. The Taoist Mission calls this festival Zhong Yuan Jie or ‘Festival of the Middle Season’, as it is the second of three festivals.’
I had read both letters but had problems recalling ‘Festival of the Middle Season’ just now. When I googled seventh month festival I realised any other title didn’t stand a chance. The moniker was just too strong a PR tag and is widely used.
Now this local movie, “A month of hungry ghosts” is going to cement that name even further and probably extend it internationally as well!
Check out the FAQ, even though they incorrectly use ‘lah’ instead of ‘ah?’ or ‘hah?’ Sheesh!
John Larkin said
I need to change the name of my gallery. Thanks for the information Siva.
budak said
Impressions following the show (and dialogue with the producers): http://budak.blogs.com/the_annotated_budak/2008/08/the-month-of-the-dead-reveals-much-about-the-hearts-of-the-livingthe-most-compelling-individual-in-a-month-of-hungry-gh.html
Some of the CGI is tacky and there is too much ‘editorialising’ towards the end, but they capture quite well the contradictions, tensions, devotion and disingenuousness of modern practitioners of the festival.