Dead Month

I arrived in town during the quietest month of the year, when the dead were said to walk the earth.

— Heaven's Lover

History

Praying to exalted dead ancestors existed since ancient times. It only got codified during the third century AD based on a Buddhist story of a monk who rallied his temple's efforts to save his mother from starving in the afterlife.
The story became refined through retellings from that period onward.
The entire point of the dead month is to give respects to dead ancestors and look after the ones who were forgotten.

Execution

Swimming pools are closed for the entire month because drowned ghosts are said to haunt water and steal the bodies of living victims.

Participants

Every citizen who follows folk beliefs is expected to take part in exalting the dead.
Buddhist monks and Taoist shamans lead the prayers.

Observance

Because the lunar calendar is always one month behind the Gregorian one, the seventh month is in August.

Primary Related Location

New Luoyang

Related Ethnicities

• Japanese
• Southsea Chinese