Poll shows high number of adults believe in ghosts

A woman prays during Toucheng Township's ``Grabbing the Sacrifice'' ceremony, which was recently performed for the the first time in seven years. A recent poll indicated that roughly a third of working adults pray to ghosts. PHOTO: YEH CHIH-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

If you thought only children were afraid of things that go bump in the night, think again. Almost half of all working adults in the country believe in ghosts, and two-thirds of these regularly pray to departed souls inhabiting the netherworld, according to a poll released yesterday.

The seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar is called the Ghost Month, or the Chung Yuan Festival. During this time, people scrupulously follow customs handed down through the generations -- particularly the notion of bai-bai, which includes praying with incense sticks and setting out food and drink for the spirits to "consume."

The poll of over 6,000 employed people chosen randomly nationwide by the 9999 Pan Asian Human Resources Bank, a job placement service center, found that 48.29 percent of respondents believe in ghosts, while 38.74 percent are "doubtful," and 12.97 percent reject the notion altogether.

Almost percent of the respondents said that they were afraid that the "good brothers" from the other world would come to haunt them during the Ghost Month, compared with 44.88 percent who said they are not afraid at all and 26.24 percent who admitted that they "sort of" feared the ghosts.

Just 66 percent said that they bai-bai in their homes during Ghost Month, offering incense, foods, beverages, fruits and "ghost money" to the "good brothers" of the other world.

However, 33.77 percent said they do not bai-bai at all during Ghost Month.

The survey also found that some people follow customary taboos, including avoiding going under the knife in hospital, attending funerals, buying a house, getting married or going swimming during Ghost Month.

The poll found that companies and business organizations are even more superstitious, with 82.68 percent of the companies responding to the poll saying that they bai-bai during Ghost Month.