Hungry Ghost Festival - A story to share

Gosh, I can't believe it's been months since I last updated this little blog here!~
The reason I started this blog in the first place was due to the weird and intriguing stories from the other side which prompted me to share some that I've heard or in case of any supernatural (something which cannot be proved by science) cases which is interesting for all to read about.

Anyway, this update is about a story I wish to share; which I've heard from a family member.
This story took place in a place in Penang and it was during the month of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
Now, as you know, during this particular month, it is a Chinese tradition and custom to make offerings to those residing in the netherworld.
These offerings can be made in the form of paper paraphernalia, joss sticks, food, and even opera shows.
In Malaysia, the Getai is highly popular.

Wherever there is the mass offering, there the Getai goes.
**Getai is a local word for the street performances on the stage, singing, dancing, etc.

If you observe these areas, you will always notice that there is a long table with all the food and all sorts of offerings and at the end of the table there is a huge and gigantic paper statue sitting there.
The gigantic paper statue is made to resemble the Tai Su Yeah; who is also the guardian deity of hell and is honored to grant peace during the auspicious month of the Hungry Ghosts.

Now to the story, this happened a few years ago in this place in Penang where there was a famous temple to honor the hungry ghosts.
There was a mother with an infant baby in her arms who decided to play her part to honor the dead and to make offerings by burning the paper paraphernalia during that time.
As she was carrying her infant baby and at the same time, she had to burn the paper offerings, she decided to put her little child on the table while she goes around to burn the offerings.

Now it so happens that, after she was done with the burning and praying, she returned to the table and found the baby really quiet as if he was sleeping.
As she touched his hand, she was shocked to find that it was cold and he was motionless and not breathing anymore.
Within minutes, the baby was pronounced dead.

She couldn't understand the reason of his death as he was perfectly normal and health before they came out.

However, according to some of the folks there, the lady made a mistake by placing her boy on the table as it was the offering table!

The offering table holds all the food and offerings for the "brothers and sisters" from the netherworld and it was their understanding that everything there is for "their" consumption.
Furthermore, the Chinese believed that the dead are straight in their minds and will consume whatever that is on that table as they believed it is offered for them.

It was a rather sad story; but that was the story of how the lady wanted to do her bit to pray for her family's peace and harmony and ended having her own little boy made an "offering" as well.

So, according to my grandma and all the older folks, do be careful of what you place on the offering table, there is no turning back and that is why the month is known as the month of the Hungry Ghost.

Vampires?

Okay, this is a personal story I want to share; it was actually a dream - a really bad dream or nightmare I just had last night and I am serious.
It was really creepy and I could remember it vividly; or at least until this morning.
Now, I still have the vague flashes of it and I am trying to tell it to the best I could based on my memory.

To the story....
I was actually with this bunch of close friends from my GPTW; okay, I can remember a few of them but I wouldn't mention their names here.
We were travelling to this particular small town or island I think which had a small village. It was rather cold there; coz I remembered most of us were in jackets and we were picking up logs and everything.
Then we met this family who had a hut near ours and we said hi to them.
Somehow me and another 2 guys were not too comfortable with the place and also the weird family and urged the others to cut the trip short while they laughed us off.

Then I couldn't remember what happened but we were out of the hut and when we got back, we couldn't find most of our friends except a few and we noticed they were kinda pale and looking zoned out. In fact, they even had bites on her neck...obviously made by vampires.

The three of us ( the skeptics) ran out of the hut and was trying to get help. We saw the weird couple trying to hunt us down; and we ran and hide. We looked around and wanted to reach out to the townsfolk for help when we realized there weren't a lot of people around and one or two that we saw, look zombie-like as well.

It was really scary and it became worse when we suddenly realize another of my friend was missing and the skies turned dark....and then, poof, my alarm clock woke me up! Thank God!!!

Origins of the Festival of Lights

In conjunction with the festive occasion, I have actually done an article (main source: Wikipedia) on Deepavali to send out as a communication mail for knowledge sharing in my dept.