The festival culture difference
By youless
@youless (114117)
Guangzhou, China
October 31, 2015 9:48am CST
In fact Halloween is similar with our Ghost Festival here. But Halloween seems to be a happy festival as people dress up horribly to scare each other. Whereas Ghost Festival is scary because it is the time for the dead people to return. And I heard the elders said not to go out late at night during the Ghost Festival. So it makes people to feel scared.
5 people like this
6 responses
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
31 Oct 15
Hallowe'en used to be very like your Ghost Festival. It was said to be a time when the veil between this world and the other world was thin and all manner of spirits, both good and bad could come into this world. It was NOT a time to be out alone at night, so if people had to go out, they would go out in groups, making a lot of noise (to frighten away the evil spirits). People would also carve scary faces into turnips, put them in the windows and put a light inside, again to frighten off evil spirits.
Over time, people believed less and less in the evil spirits but kept up the custom of going round in groups dressed up as ghosts and witches and begging from door to door with threats of playing 'tricks' on people unless they 'treated' them with cakes or candy. Pumpkins are easier to carve than turnips, so they became the jack-o'-lanterns.
The whole thing has become nothing more than an excuse for shops to make money and for people to make a fuss about something they have forgotten the meaning of.
2 people like this
@allknowing (153530)
• India
5 Nov 15
At the end of the day it has all got to do with one's beliefs. I do not think there have been real ghosts doing the rounds on those days. Or have they been. Do you have any stories to tell?
@HebrewGreekStudies (1646)
• Canada
4 Nov 15
Mmmm, I'll have to make a point to keep checking out your discussions, I'm curious about your culture, that sounds interesting.Like Owlwings said, ideas here have kind of changed, and I think that's very curious...a kind of cultural developement here overtime in a different direction...I wonder if it would ever change in a different direction in the future?
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