Hungry Ghosts in the Mall
I returned to Singapore yesterday, just in time for the Hungry Ghosts season, otherwise known as the Seventh Month festival. (If you don’t mention the word “ghost” you won’t scare away customers.) I went to Jurong Point mall to stock up on food, and found myself in the midst of seasonal festivities. Well, it’s not festive as in Chinese New Year, but there are little references to the ghosts around, even in commerce. There are paper goodies available in the grocery store; you buy them to burn for the wandering ghosts, so they are pleased by your pious intentions and refrain from haunting or cursing you. And most interesting of all, as I pushed my shopping cart toward the exit I stumbled across Chinese Opera being put on in the main mall concourse, on a stage that’s usually devoted to karaoke or product promotions. It was presented in the guise of a “heritage festival,” but since this is the time of year when a lot of temple associations put on Geitang (shows of singing and dancing, traditional puppet shows, to please the wandering spirits), I think the mall management is just hedging its bets. Too bad I didn’t have my camera with me – the costumes were cool, and the headdresses quite emphatically architectural.