I came to NUS around 2010 and I have been living in Singapore for about two years now. It was the first time I had ever visited Singapore. Naturally, many of Singapore’s customs were completely new to me. Take the Hungry Ghost Festival for example. For those of you who don’t know, it is a Chinese tradition of feeding wandering spirits during the seventh month of the lunar calendar and lasts for the whole month. They offer the dead sumptuous meals: meats, fish, fruits, cakes and alcohol; you name it!
The spooky meal...
So, when I first saw these bulks of unattended food just lying around, I was quite surprised. I didn’t know what to make of it. It was clear no one intended on eating it, nobody even spared a second glance at it as if it was completely normal to keep nicely decorated food lying on the sidewalk. Among the passers-by, it was only me who was inspecting the whole situation. I did try to be as inconspicuous as I can get. I was thinking to myself, why would anyone throw away food like that? Was it rotten? It didn’t look like it; the food looked fresh and was well decorated. I also saw little incenses were lit up beside the food. This made me further curious about the whole situation. I didn’t know whom to ask about this little mystery. Suddenly, an auntie came out of nowhere and offered me some of the food! I was taken aback, and refused politely. She noticed I was staring at the food all along and must have assumed I was hungry! I quickly fled from the spot.
Afterwards, I asked a local friend of mine about this. He was the one who enlightened me about the Ghost Festival. Apparently, Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore believe that the gates of Hell open on the 7th lunar month, freeing the spirits of the dead to roam in the world of the living. The living, in turn, must make offerings of food and burnt prayer money to the souls of the dead to appease them.
When I told him about the brief encounter with the auntie, he burst into laughter. He said those food are eventually eaten by the less privileged. And the auntie must have thought I belong to the same group. It was so embarrassing. If only I knew about this festival earlier! A little knowledge about others’ cultures goes a long way. When I reflect back on the experience today, I see how inexperienced I was at communicating with strangers from a different culture. I could have easily handled the situation by asking the auntie what was going on. Instead I just got nervous due to being new to this country and made a complete fool of myself. Well, I guess that’s the price you pay for being unable to communicate effectively.
