Next: 16 Aug 2027
Hungry Ghost Festival
In the seventh lunar month, offerings and burnt paper are left for wandering spirits, with street operas for the unseen audience.
When is Hungry Ghost Festival in 2027?
Hungry Ghost Festival 2027 is on Monday, 16 August 2027. Other years: 2026, Thursday, 27 August 2026; 2028, Sunday, 3 September 2028.
About Hungry Ghost Festival
During the seventh lunar month, Chinese Buddhist and Taoist belief holds that the gates of the underworld open and spirits, including the forgotten and neglected, walk among the living. On the fifteenth day, the peak of the Ghost Festival or Zhongyuan, families burn joss paper, incense and paper models of money, clothes and houses, and set food offerings on tables outside their homes. In Singapore and Malaysia, neighbourhoods stage getai, outdoor concerts and Chinese operas, with the front row of seats left empty for the spirits. In Taiwan, Keelung floats lanterns on the sea. People avoid swimming, travelling or moving house during the month. Monks perform rites to release the souls of the dead.
Hungry Ghost Festival dates: 2026, 2027, 2028
| Year | Hungry Ghost Festival date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday, 27 August 2026 |
| 2027 | Monday, 16 August 2027 |
| 2028 | Sunday, 3 September 2028 |
What is eaten
- peaches
- rice
- sweets
Traditions of Hungry Ghost Festival
Also part of it, and being written: Getai (The street stage shows of the month.), Yulan (The Buddhist name for the rite.).
More marked on Hungry Ghost Festival
🇨🇳 Beijing, China and 2 moreChinese opera戲曲 / 戏曲 (xìqǔ)
A sung, danced and acrobatic theatre from China, in over a hundred regional stylesPerformance
🇮🇳 India and 5 morePretaप्रेत
Offerings and rites for spirits enduring deep hunger across Asian traditions.Spiritual
🇨🇳 China and 5 moreAncestor veneration
Honouring dead relatives with offerings, meals and prayers, kept in cultures worldwideSpiritual
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Background: "Ghost Festival" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Chinese opera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/univers-finder/, CC BY 2.0, source
- Preta: Temple, Richard Carnac, Sir, Public domain, source
- Ancestor veneration: Thang Nguyen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Joss paper: Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0, source