Tuesday September 4, 2012

Hungry Ghost ceremony turns ugly

THE celebration of the Hungry Ghost month which was organised by an association in Kuching turned ugly when the participants pushed and shoved to grab food, reported major Chinese newspapers.

China Press reported that people had gathered by the tables laden with food offerings during the ceremony on Sunday.

However, the attendees did not adhere to the organiser's instructions, which was to only “grab” the food at 8pm.

Some believe that they can evade bad luck if they manage to grab the food offerings after the ritual ceremony.

It is said that if anyone manages to grab the food offered to the spirits after the ceremony, his actions would act as a warning to the spirits to leave him or her alone.

A Rela personnel said that the people ignored their pleas for calm.

Among those in the crowd were children and elderly persons and a few were injured in the fracas.

> A temple in Singapore which put a chain on the neck and legs of children during a ritual ceremony has been criticised by members of the public, reported Guang Ming Daily.

The photograph of a child, believed to be five or six years old with his neck and legs in chains, has been circulating on the Internet.

However, the person in charge of the temple said there were adults present and the children were not in danger.

He added that the ritual was meant to ensure that the children behaved and if performed on an adult, it was supposed to chase away bad luck.

● Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this > sign, it denotes a separate news item.