The Hungry Ghost Festival is linked to the Chinese practice of ancestor worship and is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which falls in July or August.
According to traditional Chinese belief, the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the time when restless spirits of the dead roam the earth.
Many temples will hold prayer ceremonies throughout the month-long Hungry Ghost Festival (Phor Thor) to appease the spirits. Chinese households will pray and make offerings of food and faux money, to 'ghosts' and their ancestors to use in the afterlife, often particularly on the 15th day of this lunar month, which is the Yu Lan or Hungry Ghost Festival.
In many major towns/places of Malaysia such as, Kuala Lumpur, PJ, Penang, Johor Bahru, etc, one of the main highlights of the festival is the performance of Chinese operas, staged on temporary wooden stages. The celebrations normally lasts the entire 7th month at temples but stage show are held for a short while.
In Penang, to locate temples and make-shif stage for stage performances, just lookout for colourful flags hanging aong roadsides, usually in the direction of these temples.
