Hong Kong (CNN)What do you feed a hungry ghost?
If you live in parts of Asia, dim sum, noodles and even iPhones -- all carefully constructed from paper -- may do the trick.
The Hungry Ghost Festival, a month-long ancient tradition that pays respect to the spirits of the dead, is celebrated across many parts of Chinese Asia on the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
During the festival, ghosts are believed to return to Earth to haunt the living and people burn paper money and food -- as well as incense -- to pay respect to their ancestors and soothe wandering spirits.
Throughout the month, many communities host celebrations, hand out rice to people in need and stage traditional Chinese operas on temporary bamboo stages for people -- both the living and the dead -- to enjoy.
The underworld celebration reaches its peak with the Yu Lan Ji festival held in many parts of China, Singapore and Malaysia on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month -- in 2016 that"s August 17.
In my family, we also get fresh leaves, like Lotus leaves, to wash our body to purify ourselves after visiting spiritual ceremonies and funerals.
We don"t want those wandering spirits to follow us back home.
What"s the meaning of this festival? What traditions are usually practiced? What"s your earliest memory?
The first reason [we celebrate this festival] is to pay respect to the ancestors and another reason is to provide charity for wandering spirits.
I guess I"ve been doing this since I was a child, five to six years old.
I used to do this with my grandparents. They passed away 10 years ago.
There are lots of interesting memories about the Hungry Ghost Festival.
For example, I remember going to see lots of Chinese operas and they usually serve free congee [a type of rice porridge] and fruit as charity.
And my parents used to buy candies for me.
You are actually supposed to leave the first row empty on the first night of the opera performance because that"s for the ghosts.
What would you like in the afterlife?
A pint of beer would be nice.
And they really should burn me a bank.
The entire bank.
HSBC headquarters would be wonderful!
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/22/travel/hong-kong-hungry-ghost-festival/index.html
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