in the taoist religion, today is an important day. its the halfway point of the seventh lunar month. the first day of this month, the door between the ghost world and the human world is opened, and on the fifteeth day (today), there is a 'ghost day' festival. everyone puts out huge altars filled with food and drink for the ghosts. they have come out of the spirit world and into ours now, looking for food and entertainment. everyone also burns paper money and incense for the ancestors. i walked out of work and smelled incense; there were sticks of it stuck all in the sidewalks and i felt like i was at woodstock or something. it was soooo bizarre.
i found out about all this via making an idiot of myself at work. there is another typhoon coming so it was very windy out today. i looked outside and saw huge flames and yelled to my boss: 'is that trash can on fire?!' he laughed and explained to me what was going on. so after work, i walked around and looked at all the goings-on and even took some photos.
im certainly not in kansas anymore.
<--this is a trashcan burning paper money. this man and his kids were throwing it in and chanting prayers.
<---an altar of food.
you can read more about ghost month here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Festival
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