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Chinese folklore (as well as Taoist and certain Buddhist tradition) holds that on the first day of the seventh lunar month the Gates of Hell are unsealed and spirits are released to roam freely in the world of the living. On the last day of the month, the ghosts return to Hell and the Gates are closed until the next year.

During this month, it is important to appease the ghosts with offerings or, at the very least, refrain from offending them in any way. Easiest to offend are the hungry ghosts, thought to be either the spirits of people who died “tragic deaths,” or spirits without descendants to pay tribute to them. To keep the hungry ghosts calm and prevent them from wreaking havoc on their families, many Chinese people burn incense and joss paper throughout the month. This is common even in large cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. (So common, in fact, that our apartment lease contains a specific clause forbidding the burning of joss paper in the building hallways.) On an appointed day, entire communities come together for the Yulan Festival to give offerings and to beat and burn an effigy of the Ghost King.

In many places in Hong Kong and southern China, the Hungry Ghost Festival is held on the 14th day of the lunar month. In our neighborhood, however, the 30 Houses Yulan Festival is held on the 24th day of the lunar month, which this year just happened to fall on August 24th. Next year falls on September 11th.

Bill, Maddie, and I were out for a walk on Saturday afternoon during a break in the heat when we came across preparations for the festival. Taoist priests, who had just presided at the mid-afternoon Ceremony of the Slicing up of Roast Pigs, were chanting and clapping as they walked around the block. A woman associated with the festival invited us to come back at 10:30 that night to watch the Beating Ceremony of the Ghost King.

I’m glad we decided to come back, because even though 10:30 p.m. is pretty late these days, the ceremony was worth staying up. Exactly as promised, at 10:30 on the dot, a group of middle-aged men armed with large bamboo sticks surrounded the 15 feet tall paper mache King of the Ghosts, beat him to a pulp and then dragged him down the street to an incinerator, which burned him to nothing in 90 seconds.

As we were leaving, I noticed a donation box filled with $50s and $100s. Thinking that it might make sense to hedge our bets with the spirits, I made a small donation. I hope that as Hong Kong closes out a restless and seemingly endless summer, the bad luck of the hungry ghosts will fade and the city will be able to find its way back to a more auspicious fall.