Singapore’s Hungry Ghost Festival: what to do in the Lion City during the month-long event … and taboos to avoid
During the Chinese ghost month it’s said the dead are free to roam the land of the living. Here’s our guide to things to see, how Hokkien Chinese rituals differ from Cantonese ones, and things you should avoid doing
The Hungry Ghost Festival is one of Singapore’s most popular events, bringing together people from all corners of the city’s cultural melting pot. For the entire seventh month of the lunar calendar (which falls from August 11 to September 9 this year), the living remember and revere their deceased relatives who are said to return to roam our realm.
The Hungry Ghost Festival, or Zhong Yuan Jie, stems from both Taoist and Buddhist traditions and dates back around 2,000 years. During the festival, people carry out elaborate rituals to feed and honour the dead who roam the earth during the ghost month.
While there is plenty to see in Singapore from now until September 9 for the living, there are also many taboos to avoid.
What to do
Watch a getai
There are island-wide celebrations over the month and the festivities are observed from home to community level. One of the most colourful aspects of the festival is the staging of the getai (tented song stage). Traditionally, the getai is set up by a collective clan, usually neighbours or business associates, to raise money for the rituals needed to appease the spirits, including kitschy evening entertainment.
While the Cantonese version of this boisterous event would usually include an opera performance, the Hokkien, a dialect group in Singapore, prefer to appease “the good brothers” – a reference to the released spirits – with loud songs and dance routines peppered with raucous jokes. While the number of getai shows has dwindled over time, there are still a few good performances every year featuring veteran local acts such as Liu Ling Ling and Wang Lei.
As these performances pop up all over Singapore and rely mostly on word of mouth for publicity, your best bet to find one is to ask a local or look out for spots where traditional announcements are posted.