Night of the Hungry Ghosts (Chinatown, Singapore)
Photo by e-chan © 2008 All rights reserved - Downloading and using
without permission is illegal.
Last night was the first night of the month of Hungry Ghosts.
According to the old taoist chinese tradition, the 7th lunar month
(could be in late july, august or september) is the month when the
doors of Hell are open. Thousands of Hungry Ghosts are then wandering
among the living people.
For gaining their sympathy (those ghosts could help people in business
or for striking the lottery) and avoiding bad times (like tragic
accidents, sudden death, bankrupcy and so on), most of the
chinese-singaporeans are burning a lot of offerings, including hell
bank notes, hell meals and hell fancy clothes.
These ghosts are not only hungry, they are thirsty, greedy and they
feel cold far from their hell's flames. Like any human beings, they
like to feast, to drink, to be well-dressed, to go to bars, to woo
people, or to attend some shows and performances.
In chinese operas and getai shows (hokkien pop kitschy performances),
the first row is empty, because these first-class seats are reserved
for the ghosts...
Here, a shop owner burns hell paper money, throwing them into the
fire. For a short moment, the papers are gliding around the fire, like
flying ghosts.
During the hours i spent searching for hungry ghosts photogenic fires,
i made an unforgiven faux pas : i stepped into ashes and broke some
incense sticks. This awkward mistake could cost me my life or at least
a large amount of bad luck and nightmares. Coincidence or lame excuse
for my poor photograph's talents once i'm a bit drunk, among the large
hundred of pictures i've taken in the second part of the night, at a
party, only a dozen were not blurred or covered of strange flare, like
a ghostly veil...
Hier soir, c'était la première nuit du mois des Hungry Ghosts
(Fantômes affamés).
Selon la tradition taoïste chinoise ancienne, le 7ème mois lunaire
(qui tombe soit fin juillet, août ou septembre) est le mois durant
lequel les portes des Enfers sont ouvertes, laissant ainsi errer des
milliers de fantômes affamés parmi les vivants. Pour s'attirer leur
sympathie (ces fantômes peuvent faire prospérer les affaires ou aider
à tirer les bons numéros à la loterie) et éviter des mauvais moments
(comme de tragiques accidents, des morts subites ou des faillites
brutales), la plupart des sino-singapouriens font brûler des
offrandes, incluant des billets de banque infernaux, des repas
infernaux et même des chouettes vêtements infernaux.
Ces fantômes ne sont pas seulement affamés, ils sont aussi assoiffés,
cupides et frigorifiés, car ils sont loin de leurs flammes infernales.
Comme la plupart des gens, ils aiment festoyer, s'enivrer, être bien
habillés, aller dans les bars, draguer, ou encore assister à des
spectacles.
Dans les opéras chinois et les getai (spectacles de pop hokkien bien
kitsch), le premier rang est vide, car ces places de premier choix
sont réservées aux fantômes...
Ici, un commercant brûle des billets de banque infernaux, en les
jetant dans le brasier. Pendant un instant, les papiers semblent
planer au-dessus du feu, tels des fantômes volants.
Lors des heures passées à traquer les brasiers des hungry ghosts, j'ai
commis l'irréparable : marcher sur un tas de cendres d'un bûcher et
casser sans le faire exprès des bâtonnets d'encens. Un faux pas qui
pourrait me condamner au pire à mort, ou au moins me garantir une
bonne période de malchance ou de cauchemars.
Coïncidence ou pauvre excuse pour expliquer mon peu de talent de
photographe quand j'ai des verres dans le nez, sur la bonne centaine
de photos prises lors de la seconde partie de cette nuit, une fête de
départ, seule une petite douzaine n'étaient pas floues ou couvertes de
flare, comme si un voile fantômatique s'etait abattu sur mon viseur...
Comments and faves
Ian Brumpton (47 months ago | reply)
Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
Geink Noise (47 months ago | reply)
七月来了。。呜~
HiSpAnIcO[reloaded] (47 months ago | reply)
Seen in the Other Village
Philipp Klinger (touring Scotland till 18/06) added this photo to his favorites. (47 months ago)
Philipp Klinger (touring Scotland till 18/06) (47 months ago | reply)
Stunning fire
KraKote est KoKasse. added this photo to their favorites. (47 months ago)
ezreen.photography© (47 months ago | reply)
People's Choice
Marshmallow Sheep (47 months ago | reply)
awesome shot and story...
This world-class image was found in
Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
noa m (47 months ago | reply)
Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
Shannon_Taylor (47 months ago | reply)
AWESOME shot! I appreciate you adding the story as well. I love learning about other cultures!
Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
Cheo70 added this photo to his favorites. (47 months ago)
Cheo70 (47 months ago | reply)
Stunning!
lowell beyer and spadea added this photo to their favorites.
morgan christine. (47 months ago | reply)
dadou~ (47 months ago | reply)
La lumière est magnifique... Et c'est trop bon de voir les billets suspendus dans l'air...
dadou~ added this photo to his favorites. (47 months ago)
e-chan (47 months ago | reply)
hey salut dadou~!
C'était une chouette nuit, en effet. Je dors toujours pas, tu vois. On se flickère maille ?
lampshadow64 (47 months ago | reply)
Wow!
Flickr Hearts - Post 1 - Give 5 Flickr Hearts
ralphberthold (47 months ago | reply)
----------------
Flickr Hearts - Post 1 - Give 5 Flickr Hearts
commented with SICI (0.2 | 2008-06-21)
WEST-ULTRA (47 months ago | reply)
*Secretgarden added this photo to their favorites. (47 months ago)
e-chan (47 months ago | reply)
moulich, Philipp Klinger, Cheo70, Krakote, doodleb, spadea, dadou~, Secretgarden merci, danke, xiexie, thank you for the faves. Glad you like this picture and maybe the story around it.
爱*菲淋*雨 : je comprends rien. Wo pu zhi dao. I don't understand, sorry. I just can guess you said something about the 7th month...
stryker66, you are obviously a fan of Jef Aérosol...
Philipp Klinger, Cheo70, i hope you've recovered. I'm sorry if this photo stunned you, sometimes i can'tcontrol my punch ;-)
Thanks for the dark globes and for finding this photo is a world-class one, stryker66, Marshmallow Sheep, noa m, Shannon Taylor
Thanks for this lonely People's Choice award dari mata hati
Thanks for the towers of the Other Village HISpAnicO
Thanks for ze heartz morgan christine, lampshadow64, ralphberthold, West-ultra
dadou~, cette vision des billets suspendus dans l'air au-dessus du brasier me hantait (c'est peut-être pas le bon mot dans ces circonstances) depuis la première fois que j'avais assisté à cette bizarre coutume des Hungry Ghosts, en août 2005. Il m'aura fallu trois ans pour arriver à la mettre sur photo - et encore, il y a du boulot à faire, puisque avec un chouia plus de vitesse et de lumière, j'aurais pu vraiment suspendre les billets sans flou...
-affetto*m (47 months ago | reply)
Global Village 2 (post 1 - give a globe to 5)
my mother brought us up doing this tradition. very well told
-affetto*m (47 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called It's A MYSTERY To Me! Of People or Animals ~ We Love Comments, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
brimzone (47 months ago | reply)
What a nice capture. :) well, a little bad luck in exchange of a great shot.... worth the trade. :-)
e-chan (47 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the dark globe and the invitation -luvhumpbacks-
brimzone, thank you. Congrats, you'll be my guest for burning papers at my funerals if i die from a fallen coconut
brimzone (47 months ago | reply)
Erm.... but that will make my pores bigger and have to spend some money on beutician. I'll just do a lot of chanting for you :-)) It's very rare to see coconut tree in Singapore, so dun worry :-)
cactusdeaudouce (47 months ago | reply)
poétique...
ana giselle rodriguez (47 months ago | reply)
wow! beautiful!
ana giselle rodriguez added this photo to her favorites. (47 months ago)
monsieur ours (46 months ago | reply)
Tu as subi l'attaque de la bière, bien connue des amateurs de photo pour ne pas améliorer les performances techniques :)
Très intéressant ce texte dur la tradition des fantômes affamés, merci d'avoir pris le temps de l'écrire !
J'aime beaucoup l'image aussi :p
cradle_of_filth666_dimmu added this photo to her favorites. (46 months ago)
Lord Ezar (46 months ago | reply)
awesome fire shot!
Steve-h added this photo to his favorites. (46 months ago)
Steve-h (46 months ago | reply)
I saw this in the 10+ Faves group and Faved it.
Andrea Clemente (46 months ago | reply)
i like this shot!
I saw this in the 10+ Faves group and Faved it.
--
Seen in the group"10+ Faves 1-2-3 (Post one,Comment and Fave two)" (?)
Andrea Clemente, spookymari, and monohka added this photo to their favorites.
spider devine (40 months ago | reply)
Hey cool picture- I have just created an article about the Hungry Ghost on
www.Festivalpig.com as part of the Australia & Asia festivals here
www.festivalpig.com/Australia-Asia-Festivals. html
Here is the article:
www.festivalpig.com/Hungry-Ghost-Festival.htm l
Is it possible to please feature your picture on my article ?
Thanks & Peace,
C.
timestar1120 added this photo to her favorites. (31 months ago)
SNAP Moderator 3 [deleted] (16 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Chinatown - Singapore , and we'd love to have this added to the group!