The traditional festival “Zhongyuan Festival” derives from one of the Three Yuans—Upper, Middle, and Lower. The Three Realms correspond respectively to Heaven, Earth, and Water. The ancients said that on the Upper Yuan Festival, the Heavenly Official bestows blessings; on the Middle Yuan Festival, the Earthly Official pardons sins; and on the Lower Yuan Festival, the Water Official alleviates calamities. At face value, it is easy to see that this is a series of festivals themed around “alleviating suffering and praying for blessings and good fortune.”

Why is the Ghost Festival so special?First of all, it’s because of the timing

The Ghost Festival falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month (in some regions, it is observed on the fourteenth day). “Seven” is a profoundly unique number in the Chinese cultural tradition; in the I Ching, it is a number of change, an odd number, and a celestial number. It embodies the profound principle of the alternation and cyclical recurrence of yin and yang (from the *Book of Changes*: “Reversal is the way; after seven days, things return—such is the course of Heaven.”). Thus, from time immemorial, people have been fond of using the number “seven” to bring all things into a unified framework—such as the Seven Stars, the seven‑line regulated verse, the seven orifices, the seven emotions, and the seven colors. Even the human life cycle is marked by sevens: education begins at age seven, adolescence sets in at fourteen, and full physical maturity is attained at twenty‑one… Therefore, as a festival for praying for blessings and honoring one’s ancestors, the Ghost Festival acquires an especially mystical aura in the seventh lunar month.

The second distinctive feature of the Zhongyuan Festival lies in its fusion of multiple festive traditions

For example, as mentioned above, the Daoist notion of “the Earthly Official of the Middle Yuan absolving sins” coexists with the Buddhist observance of the seventh month’s mid‑point as the “Ullambana Festival,” while the folk tradition centers on ancestral rites. Although the three folk customs eventually merged and became largely indistinguishable, many regions still adhere to their own traditions and celebrate them in their own ways. For example, in Japan, the mid‑seventh lunar month is celebrated as the Obon Festival, a major holiday second only to New Year’s Day and marked by a short holiday. In North Korea, the Zhongyuan Festival carries distinct “national and agricultural characteristics” and is also known as the “Baizhong Festival,” reflecting a strong desire for a bountiful harvest. Southeast Asians tend to mark the occasion with festive entertainment, while mainland China has developed a rich “ghost culture” surrounding it, commonly referred to as the “Ghost Festival.” If there is any commonality, the only thing all regions have in common is “ancestor worship.” No matter what other activities are on the program, ancestor veneration always comes first, followed by the entertainment.

In other words, no matter which set of customs one follows, the overarching theme remains “worshipping the ancestors and honoring the departed.” So when people talk about the Ghost Festival, there’s no need to think of it solely as a “festival of ghosts”; honoring one’s ancestors and fulfilling filial duty should be the top priority.
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