Ghosts don't haunt... they suffer

WE provide them with sumptuous feasts, burn large amounts of joss paper for their benefit, entertain them with shows and stay out of their way in the hope that they steer clear of ours too.

But to have fear as the driver for the celebration is perhaps the most misunderstood part of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

"We give the hungry ghosts food and offer them a lot of things not because we are scared of them, but because we sympathise with them," says religious studies expert Professor Ong Seng Huat.

Sympathy? Sounds like a foreign concept at a time when people avoid throwing parties for fear of attracting unearthly "gatecrashers" and the young are advised to stay home at night to minimise contact with denizens of the netherworld.

Read more here.

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