The pet cemetery in Vietnam where animals’ hungry ghosts return every year for a feast
- Milk, grapes, sausages and moon cakes are placed on graves of pets laid to rest at the Te Dong Vat Nga pagoda in Hanoi
- The pet cemetery’s owner believes animals’ souls should be treated with dignity, and puts on the feast every year
Sausages, grapes, milk and moon cakes are laid at the gravestones of beloved cats and dogs at Hanoi’s pet cemetery – an earthly feast for the souls of dead animals believed to return from the afterlife for a meal to mark ghost month.
Dozens of pet owners turned out for a solemn ceremony at the “Te Dong Vat Nga” pagoda – its name means all lives are equal – where thousands of dogs and cats have been laid to rest in the burial grounds on site.
It is a feasting ritual more often performed across Vietnam for dead ancestors whose souls are believed to wander the earth during ghost month and are honoured with a large meal offering before it closes at the end of August.
But the charismatic dog loving Buddhist who runs the pet graveyard believes animal souls should be treated with the same dignity as human ones.
“We love dogs and cats, not just in this life but in the next life as well,” says Nguyen Bao Sinh, who opened the graveyard 50 years ago.