10 Taboos of the Hungry Ghost Festival

According to urban legends, the probability of bumping into paranormal entities is higher during the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Therefore, there are some taboos for precautionary measures to avoid such encounters.

1. Avoiding loitering in dark places during night time.
Usually, entities are attracted to dark and cold environments. If you are vibrating low or in bad luck, it is a high chance that they may possess you or follow you home.

2. Do not use dark or black colour nail polish.
It is believed that the dead will have dark-coloured nails. They might think that you are one of them and try to communicate with you.

3. Do not step or kick the praying items by the roadside.
In the Lunar 7th month, there will be a lot of offerings placed by the roadside. If you accidentally step on them, it is better that you apologise to them. It is believed that you might accidentally be stepping on the hand of an entity which is trying to retrieve the money or food.

4. Do not place your child on any table when visiting a prayer site, not even if you have a nappy emergency.
You do not want the spirits to think that the child is an offering or sacrifice for them.

5. Do not allow children near the sea or swimming pools.
As it is believed that spirits will be wandering, hoping to have a second chance on reincarnation by drowning the individual and taking over the body of the victim.

6. Do not hold a wedding banquet.
Jealous female spirits who are single or who may have had a bad marriage in their past life may curse or ill-wish the wedding couple.

7. Do not urinate or spit freely near a tree.
Lingering souls roaming around these spaces may be offended.

8. Do not tap people on their shoulders.
It can distort the protective energy of an individual and the person will be vulnerable to spiritual harm.

9. Do not ask or identify any presence of strange smell or strange noise in the night. Keep it to yourself.
You may alert the spirit that you know of its presence and it may try to communicate with you.

10. Do not sit at the first row of a public Chinese opera or movie theater.
Front rows of these places are normally reserved only for the dead.