If yo are out walking during the seventh lunar month, be careful because you might meet some hungry ghosts! Chinese people believe that the spirits of people who have died have a holiday during the hungry ghosts festival. In that month the spirits come back to earth to visit their living relatives.
Chinese people believe some ghosts are friendly but others are not. Perhaps the unfriendly ones don't have a family to visit or maybe they just want to cause trouble.
People give the friendly ghosts money and gifts, such as televisions and cars. These are all made of paper and are burned for the ghosts.
Families also cook food for the ghosts. To stop the ghosts from coming inside the house, people put food outside the house.
Parents ask their children not to stay out late during the Hungry Ghosts Festival because they might meet some unfriendly ghosts. The seventh month is also not a lucky month for marriage for the Chinese.
