On the 15th day of Ghost Month, when the gates to the spirit world are believed to open and spirits walk the earth, Taoist masters are invited to the Zhupu Altar, a massive temple built on a hillside in Keelung.
The masters hold a ceremony to assist the spirits of those who died without family or friends to pray for them, known as “hungry ghosts,” but commonly referred to as good brothers and sisters to avoid offense.
Ghost Month is marked across east Asia, including Hong Kong, southern China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Keelung is a significant site, with a history of violent disputes during the Qing Dynasty, and it hosts the nation’s biggest events. The ceremonies often draw tens of thousands of onlookers from afar, but these are different times because of COVID-19.
Photo: Reuters
After a 15-minute hike to the gate, visitors are greeted with barriers blocking the entrance and police asking cars to leave.
An officer said: “This year the ceremony is not open for humans!”
Asked who is inside, he replied: “They are the staff and the good brothers.”
Around the world, religions that have built their observance around mass gatherings have had to rewrite traditions to avoid creating superspreader events.
The pandemic has brought extra significance to traditions revering those passed. Taiwan lost more than 800 people in the past three months, with untold more among the large diaspora in countries hit far harder by the virus.
“One of the really interesting aspects of thinking about ghosts and ghostliness this past year and a half, for me, has been the two temporalities of being in the US with family back in Taiwan,” said Eileen Chengyin Chow (周成蔭), a professor in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University, who lives between the US and Taiwan, which recorded no cases for more than 250 days last year.
“While I was thoroughly thrilled at being in a space that felt safe and untouched and life seemed to go on as usual, it felt unaccountably sad, actually,” she said. “Because the US at that point had been many, many months of grief and absence.”
Taiwan is coming to the end of its worst COVID-19 outbreak, but many — including those at the Keelung temples — are not ready yet. On Sunday, Zhupu Altar put on a light show, lit firecrackers, and prayed for the gods, the ghosts and an end to the pandemic, but mortals had to watch online.
In Taoist, Buddhist and East Asian folklore, Ghost Month refers to the seventh month of the lunar calendar when the gates of the underworld open, and spirits are freed to search for food, or perhaps for innocent lives who can take their place and allow them to move on.
Across Taiwan, households prepared offerings of food, alcohol, candles, flowers, washbowls and towels, in prayer for their ancestors and gods, and to placate the hungry ghosts. The streets filled with smoke as they burned paper money — gold for the gods and silver for the ghosts — in small metal drums.
There are lists of taboos: Do not swim at night just in case drowned ghosts drag you under the water; do not whistle or hang your laundry at night; do not turn around to someone calling your name. It is also a bad month to buy a new car or house, but many can tell you that if you are not superstitious, it is a great time to get a deal.
The traditions adapt to the times. In Singapore, residents reported people burning paper vaccines for their ancestors. In Taiwan, far more people seemed to be ignoring the taboo against going for a swim, perhaps because a summer-long COVID-19 ban on swimming venues had only just been lifted.
“The last generation believes in those taboos but not much anymore today,” Keelung’s Qingan Temple (慶安宮) director Zhang Ru Song (張如松) said.
“The last generation is more sensitive to the old and traditional god and ghosts concepts. Nowadays, we only remind each other to try to avoid water activities,” Zhang said.
Generally, people use this time to remember their ancestors and remember where they come from, “and help those ghosts who have no one to pray to them, in order to keep everyone safe,” Zhang said.
Some suspicions are still common among younger generations. A recent survey of Taiwan office workers found that one-third of respondents avoid working overtime during Ghost Month.
The poll found 40 percent of office workers had reported strange encounters in the late hours. More than 70 percent reported “eerie sounds” from office corners, while others said they heard footsteps, saw windows open on their own and elevators arrive on their floor without being called, or heard toilets flushing in an empty bathroom.
In Keelung, Zhang said that there were fewer households praying this year. The events were much simpler with communities sending representatives to participate on their behalf, to reduce the COVID-19 risk.
“We still kept the tradition and held the events, and their sincere hearts were still praying the same,” Zhang said.
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