What Is Hungry Ghost Month: 11 Feng Shui Do’s + Don’ts

Do you know What Is Hungry Ghost Month? Hungry Ghosts month is a month dedicated to the celebration of an ancient tradition that honors the spirits of the dead.

The Hungry Ghost is a Chinese festivity that comes out of paying respect to the ghosts and the spirits of the deceased.

According to Chinese tradition, Ghost Month is classified as one of the main Taoist and Buddhist celebrations when ghosts are let loose from heaven and hell to revisit the earth.

Hungry Ghosts month is usually marked with month-long celebrations that see different communities sharing rice with the needy and setup traditional activities that made people–both the living and the ghosts catch all the excitement.

Commemorating the festivity also involves the burning of paper money and food across major areas of Chinese Asia to appease the spirits of the dead and reverence their ancestors.

In this blog, we delivered helpful tips that will make the next Hungry Ghosts month lucky by knowing what to embrace and what to avoid.

You will learn how to apply Feng Shui to attract positive energy and invite good luck during this festivity normally seen as an unlucky event.

So, this blog is about the meaning of Hungry Ghost Month in Feng Shui, and the dos and don’ts of being lucky.

What Is Hungry Ghost Month Festival?

The Hungry Ghost festival is celebrated to respect the spirits of the deceased and offer prayers to their ancestors. It is an annual festival that ushers the return of dead spirits into the earth.

The spirits of the dead that have families are believed to go back and visit their homes and those that have no relatives would meander about the earth.

Hungry Ghost Festival Story

The Hungry Ghost Festival is commemorated in many Asian countries including China, Taiwan Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, India, Vietnam, and Singapore.

The Hungry Ghost Festival originated from an aged tale given in ancient China.

According to the story, one Mulian, who was a monk, had requested the Buddha soliciting assistance for his mother to receive fair treatment in the next world.

The story narrated that the mother of Mulian was seriously starving, and since she was dead, she cannot eat.

Then the Buddha instructed Mulian to put together gifts of food and fine clothes that should be presented to the monks instead.

But the mother of Mulian was grateful for the gift, and the monk prayed for her. This led to her rebirth as a person, which stopped her hunger. 

How Is Hungry Ghost Celebrated?

Hungry Ghost is celebrated mainly by offering foods, including the burning of incense and joss paper. Some valuable items such as money, clothes, and gold are burnt as a way of feeding the hungry ghosts.

Hungry Ghost Month Begins And End In 2023?

Hungry Ghost Month begins on the 16^th of August and ends on September 14^th, 2023. While the date of the Ghost Festival is on the 30^th of August, 2023. 

How To Attract Luck and Positive Energy During Ghost Month

If you want to attract luck, and positive energy during Ghost Month, follow these tips.

Use Salt To Reduce The Effect Of Negative Energy

If you plan to move into a new house or desire to renovate the present one, take rock salt and sprinkle it on your main entrance, close to the windows, and in every corner of your home are capable of chasing away bad luck.

The evil spirits that are hiding can also be chased out of your room by placing a glass of water containing salt by your bedside.

Always Maintain A Pleasant Outlook

To attract positive energy and good luck during Ghost Month, keep a happy countenance and outlook in your house.

Add more lighting fixtures to make your home shine and brighter particularly in the corners. You can also place colored sheets that are bright and shining.

Know that an adequately lit home attracts good luck, positive energy, and peace.

Light Some Incense

One of the ways of attracting positive energy, and good luck during Ghost Month is to light nine sticks of incense and move them around the rooms in your house.

This practice has can help cleanse your home during Ghost Month.

Put Your Protection Charms Close

If you want to attract positive energy, it is necessary to protect yourself from a bad situation. You can achieve this by putting your protection charms, also called an Evil eye protection close to you.

These charms protect you against emotional difficulties. Protection charms include amulets and lucky crystals. Click to buy one below.

Pray Regularly

Increase the level of your prayers during Ghost Month. It does not matter the duration, prayer is a weapon that is dependable for dispelling negative energy at any time.

What Not To Wear During Ghost Month

Don’t wear red or black clothing. Red and black catch the attention of ghosts as these colors are attractive to them.

Ghost Month Dos

Here are some dos and don’ts of Ghost Month. Following these rules will greatly help.

Ghost Month DO’s	Ghost Month Don’ts
1. Offer More Prayer:	1. Don’t Travel At Night Or Go Out Late:
2. Burn Incense:	2. Don’t Take Photos And Videos At Night:
3. Offerings:	3. Don’t Sign Any Contract During Ghost Month:
4. Use of Amulets:	4. Don’t Swim During Ghost Month:
5. Add lucky colors:	5. Don’t Make Any Type Of Investment:
6. Enhance qi with plants:	6. Don’t Lean On A Wall In Your Home:
7. Use Of incense, candles:	7. Don’t Hang Wind Chimes Close To Your Bed:

1. Offer More Prayer:

Ghost Month requires you to embrace up so that you will not be vulnerable and be at risk of being devoured by Ghosts.

Prayer is such a weapon you can use to protect yourself from danger. Pray more during this Festival to seek more protection from evil spirits.

2. Burn Incense:

During this festival, commit yourself to burn of incense and make some prayers for the Ghosts. When incense is offered, it dispels negative energies and changes them into positive energies.

In addition, incense has special virtue which gives its smell the ability to calm and cleanse the environment, hence making the spirits to be excited.

3. Offerings:

As stated above, during Hungry Ghost Month, the spirits tend to wander around for food, leisure, and offerings.

Therefore, make available some things that give them delight.

Gifts that you can offer include food, candles, or even funny presentation in as much as the activities give the excitement of the ghosts.

Many people take fun with burning paper, fake money, valuables like jewelry, or any item that the dead spirits may be longing for in the spirit world.

4. Amulets:

During the festival, you can put on your amulets like the prayer beads so that you can be protected against the harm caused by evil spirits.

Some also carry out spreading coarse salt around their home; as well as bringing it along anywhere they go.

Ghost Month Don’ts

1. Don’t Travel At Night Or Go Out Late:

Because of the presence of ghosts, avoid traveling or going out at night.

The ghosts love to stick around in dark locations because the light can cause severe damage to them. So, moving around during the night can expose you to evil spirits.    

2. Don’t Take Photos And Videos At Night:

Don’t take photos or videos at night as there are instances where the camera may capture evil spirits.

There are several shreds of evidence that showed cameras captured dead spirits which are mostly seen in movies.

3. Don’t Sign Any Contract During Ghost Month:

Ghost Month is not a month favorable for signing any contract. The month is inauspicious and can bring unlucky circumstances.

It is therefore recommended not to sign a marriage contract, open new businesses, apply for new jobs, or perform a huge business deal.

4. Don’t Swim During Ghost Month:

Feng Shui stated that swimming during Ghost Month causes the spirits to be angry and become jealous since they cannot swim.

This results in a negative reaction from them. It is also believed that spirits are more energetic inside water and can result in the person swimming drowning.   

5. Don’t Make Any Type Of Investment:

Ghost Month is painted as a month you need to stay clear of making any type of investment.

According to Chinese tradition, this month attracts failure and bad luck. Investors are advised to avoid investing in the stock market during this period.

6. Don’t Lean On A Wall In Your Home:

One of the don’ts of Ghost Month is to ensure you do not lean on a wall in your home.

The spirits prefer to hang on the walls because the walls are often more incredible compared to other places and this gives them pleasure.

According to Feng Shui, to stop the spirits of the dead from lynching on the walls of your home, decorate the corners of your home with beautiful ornaments.

7. Don’t Hang Wind Chimes Close To Your Bed:

During Ghost Month, consider removing your wind chimes or any ornaments that utilize wind in making a sound.

Hanging wind chimes during this period is considered inauspicious as the sound made by these objects can draw the spirits into the house, which then results in nightmares or bad sleep.

Hungry Ghost Month Superstitions

There are some superstitions surrounding Hungry Ghost Month. Check out a few of them below:

• Bring in your washed clothes inside before the sun sets: During Ghost Month, don’t allow your laundry to stay outside overnight.
• Leaving your laundry outside can cause the smoke from burnt offerings and the scent from the incense to stick to the clothes, possibly attracting walking spirits.
• Don’t touch, march, or mess up with the roadside offerings: One of the superstitions surrounding the Hungry Ghost Month Festival is to be careful about roadside offerings when you come across them. These offerings are not to be touched or messed up in any way.
• These offerings are put up to appease the ancestors wandering around the earth. If by mistake you marched on them, tender an apology, and if not, you will discover that you are accompanied by unseen personalities to the house.    
• Spending more time outside beyond sunset: Spirits are believed to be very strong during the night time because they gain more spiritual power through the dark energy from the moon.
• The possibility of coming in contact with a walking spirit around in the dark is quite high. It is advisable not to stay up late at the night.
• If you see insects such as moths, butterflies, and grasshoppers in your home, don’t kill any of them. It is a belief that these insects represent spirits of the dead that have returned to pay a visit.
• While you may feel tempted to eliminate these pests, show some level of kindness and take up the responsibility of redirecting them through the outdoors quietly.
• Avoid packing into a new home or acquiring new furniture. When you pack into a new home, renovate, or refurnish your house, you are at risk of being visited by ghosts as they enjoy hopping onto your new furniture.  

How Do I Survive A Ghost Month?

There are many ways to survive a Ghost Month and check these few tips on how to survive a Ghost Month.

• Don’t hang wind chimes in your bedroom
• Don’t wear clothing or object with your name written on them as you walk around at night
• Don’t touch praying items during Ghost Month as a way of respecting them. You should be careful when walking not to kick any of them unknowingly and if you did, tender your apology.
• Shun the act of whistling as you take a walk back home at night.
• Stop shouting names as you go out during Ghost Month.
• Stop being curious during Ghost Month.
• Don’t walk along the dark ways or places.
• Don’t work late at night during the Ghost Month

How Long Is Hungry Ghost Festival?

The Hungry Ghost Festival takes 14 days the celebration.

How Many Days Is Hungry Ghost Festival Celebrated?

The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated with fun and is always a month-long celebration. The festival is celebrated for 14 days.  

Hungry Ghost Festival Food Offerings

The traditional food offerings used for celebrating Hungry Ghost Festival are:

• Raw Noodles
• Uncooked Rice
• Rice Wine
• Peanuts
• Fruits
• Candies
• Salt
• Sugar

In Conclusion

Hungry Ghost Month is a month you can take priority by entertaining and feeding the spirits of the ancestors wandering around in search of food and making them acceptable offerings. 

What Is Hungry Ghost Month FAQ