page_title: Ghost Festival
section_title: Vietnam
hierarchical_section_title: Ghost Festival / Celebrations in other parts of Asia / Vietnam
caption_attribution_description: English: A white and red rose issued to guests at the Ghost Festival (Vietnamese: Tết Trung Nguyên) service at the Lieu Quan Buddhist Cultural Center (Vietnamese: Trung tâm Văn hóa Phật giáo Liễu Quán), Huế, Vietnam in September 2017.
context_page_description: The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, Zhongyuan Jie, Gui Jie or Yulan Festival is a traditional Buddhist and Taoist festival held in certain East Asian countries. According to the Chinese calendar, the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month.
  In Chinese culture, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits, including those of deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm. Distinct from both the Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, during Ghost Festival, the deceased are believed to visit the living.
  On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is veneration of the dead, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.
context_section_description: This festival is known as Tết Trung Nguyên and is viewed as a time for the pardoning of condemned souls who are released from hell. The "homeless" should be "fed" and appeased with offerings of food. Merits for the living are also earned by the release of birds and fish. The lunar month in which the festival takes place is colloquially known as Tháng Cô Hồn - the month of lonely spirits, and believed to be haunted and particularly unlucky.
  Influenced by Buddhism, this holiday coincides with Vu Lan, the Vietnamese transliteration for Ullambana.
  In modern times, Vu Lan is also seen as Mother's Day. People with living mothers would bear a red rose and would give thanks while those without can choose to bear a white rose; and attend services to pray for the deceased.
caption: A white and red rose issued to guests at a Tết Trung Nguyên service
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