7 Month 14

Last night.......I couldn't sleep well. I kept hearing my dogs and neighbour's dogs barking. When I finally fell asleep, OliviaSweetie started crying in the middle of the night. From then on, my mind played tricks on me. I didn't dare to move or open my eyes, needed to pee but didn't dare to go to the toilet. Why didn't I leave the lights on? I kept my eyes shut and forced myself back to sleep. At one time, I thought I heard something walking on the roof of my house. Probably a cat or something else????

I remembered VictoriaC saying that the night before she couldn't sleep as well and OliviaSweetie kept crying the whole night. Then she started getting paranoid, felt like someone is playing with her pajama sleeves and felt very uncomfortable.

Earlier during the day when we were at u-thant residences with robert and kk.

robert : you know its chat yuet sap sei today...hahaha..stacy says we should go home early today.

vic : we better, you don't want to stay in a new development with no residents when the sun is down.

kk : hello chan, jogging at lake gardens?

chan : no thanks. don't want someone to jog behind me later. haha

We decided to go home early after 5pm but the jam was massive. Lots of hunger anger from the "hungry ghost" rushing home to buka puasa. Everyone on the road was so aggressive. So we stayed back in the office until the jam cleared. Surprisingly after 7pm, the roads were all clear and smooth till we got home. Finally our turn to buka puasa.

After dinner.....

mom : michai ah...tonight is chat yuet sap sei ah...you better not go anywhere and stay home ah..

me : owh...nearby our house yumcha can ah?

mom : just stay home lar..

Chat Yuet Sap Sei, literally translated in english as "7 Month 14" is the 15th of the 7th lunar month.

Every year, during the seventh month of the lunar calender, it is believed that the Gates of Hell will be opened and all Hell beings (well, not nearly all, only those well-behaved ones) will be set to roam freely on Earth for a month. In this month, many spirits roamed the world in search of their past memories to fulfil their unforgotten attachments. As such, these are called the “hungry ghosts” and the festival is also called the Hungry Ghost Festival.

The Hungry Ghosts festival occurs on the 15th night of the 7th Lunar month which falls on the 3rd of September this year. This festival is different from the more well-known Qing Ming Festival, or the tomb-sweeping day which is now an official holiday in China and is predominantly an ancestor worshipping day. The Ghost Festival on the other hand is for the ancestors to return the visit and is a festival of elaborate rituals of joss sticks and paper money, food offerings, and opera shows for the deceased.

Hungry ghosts are insatiably hungry creatures born into a miserable existence because of their greed. Hungry ghosts are pitiable creatures with huge, empty stomachs. They have pinhole mouths, and their necks are so thin they cannot swallow, so they remain hungry. Beings are reborn as hungry ghosts because of their greed, envy and jealousy. Hungry ghosts are also associated with addiction, obsession and compulsion. The Sanskrit word for "hungry ghost" is "preta," which means "departed one."

Many schools of Buddhism leave food offerings on altars for hungry ghosts. In the summer there are hungry ghost festivals throughout Asia that feature food and entertainment for the hungry ghosts.

According to Chinese folklore, the unhappy dead walk among the living throughout the month and must be placated with food, incense, fake paper money, and even cars and homes, also paper and burned as offerings. This is also a traditional time to honor the memories of departed loved ones, unhappy or not.