Understanding Hungry Ghosts ‘spiritual spaces’ in Singapore
SINGAPORE – Every year, when the gates of hell open on the seventh Lunar Month, temporary roadside offerings and makeshift altars spring up around the island.
Social spaces become ‘spiritual spaces’ during the annual Hungry Ghost Festival, as paper money is burned all around the island, along with other paper items representing anything from clothes and toiletries to cars and bungalows. The practice is believed to appease the spirits of the dead, who are believed to roam the earth during the month-long Hungry Ghost Festival.
At the Housing Development Board (HDB) estate in North Bridge Road, there is a communal spot where people come together to burn money and leave offerings for all spirits. At some areas, notices asking the spirits for a peaceful month are placed on makeshift altars.
According to sociologist Dr Terence Heng, who is an assistant professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology, “(makeshift altars) make offerings to wandering spirits and orphaned ghosts who have no one to make offerings to them.”
