類別:英文寫作類

篇名： 東西方對鬼節觀點之差異比較

The Views of Festivals from East to West─

Take Chinese and for Example

作者：

曾聖博。台北市立士林高級商業職業學校。二年十一班

郭典珊。台北市立士林高級商業職業學校。二年十一班

陳亦蟬。台北市立士林高級商業職業學校。二年十一班

指導老師：

惠風

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I. Introduction...... 1

II. Thesis...... 2

A. The Cultural Background...... 2

1. The definition of ...... 2

2. The perspectives of Ghosts from different religions...... 2

a. Chinese folk belief...... 2

b. ...... 3

c. Islamism...... 3

d. Christianity...... 3

B. The introductions of the Ghost festival and Halloween...... 3

1. The Ghost Festival...... 3

a. The origin of Ghost Festival...... 3

b. The celebration activities of the Ghost Festival...... 4

c. The related legends...... 4

2. Halloween...... 5

a. The origin of Halloween...... 5

b. The celebration activities of Halloween...... 5

c. Other related events...... 6

C. The comparisons of Ghost Festivals and religions from Western to Eastern...... 6

Table 1. The comparisons between the Ghost Festival and Halloween...... 6

Table 2. The between the Ghost Festival and Halloween...... 7

Table 3. The comparisons between Buddhism and Christianity...... 7

III. Conclusion...... 8

IV. References...... 9

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I. Introduction

Generally speaking, ghost is a mystery, unknown object to people. Now, some people are curious and interested in studying about it, but others are afraid to talk about it. Why do people always think ghost is dirty and horrible? Why do people have different views for these mazes? Probably they are influenced by the movies or stories so that they have various impressions on ghosts. But ghosts are always regarded as a and paranormal situation by the main stream scientists, and the antitheists consider that the existence of ghosts has never found any evidence to prove. In contrast, the theists and most of religions believe the existence of ghosts. Consequently, it is disputative for all circles to view the ghost festivals.

We introduce simply about two representative ghost festivals from Eastern to Western. Halloween is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has rooted in the Celtic festival of and the Christian holy day of All Saints. The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even, that is, the night before All Hallows Day. However, the Ghost Month is a traditional Chinese festival, which is celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and its origin is from the buddhistic legend “Mu-lien.”.

Nowadays, there are many popular and exciting movies about ghosts such as The Twilight Sage, Ghost, Ring, and so on. Produced by different countries, the kinds and backgrounds of the ghosts are also different. For instance, the leading role in American movie The Twilight Sage is a vampire. And in the Japanese movie Ring, the main ghost is the spirits of women. Therefore, we can find the variety of ghosts and its traits from the movies.

There are some interesting questions about this subject waiting for us to solve. First, we will take the examples of the ghost festivals between Eastern and Western─The Ghost Month and Halloween. In these traditional festivals, many customs, taboos, activities, and histories are so interesting, historic that we want to research deeply. We will provide the cultural background of Chinese and America, comparing the differences of the traditional culture on the ghost festivals.

The objective of this study is to increase our knowledge of the ghosts. Because the world of spirits is very mysterious and wild, we want to understand to the fullest. After

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all, we only have heard about this, we still haven’t ever seen the ghost. We wondered whether the ghosts have existed in the world. With this project, we can understand this curious world more.

II. Thesis

A. The Cultural Background

1. The definition of Ghosts The English word ghost continues old English gást. It is common to West Germanic, but lacking in North and East Germanic. The pre-Germanic form would have been ghoizdo-z, apparently from a root denoting “fruy, anger”, cognate with Sanskrit hedas “anger”, and reflected in Old Norse geisa “to rage.” Besides denoting the human spirit or , both of the living and the deceased, the Old English word is used as a synonym of Latin spiritus also in the meaning of “breath, blast”. It could also denote any good or evil spirit. During the Old English period, the word could denote the spirit of God as the “Holy Ghost”. The now prevailing sense of “the soul of a deceased person, spoken as if it appears in a visible form” only emerges in Middle English. Nowadays, the word ghost may also refer to any spirit or demon.

However, the ghosts have been defined as the disembodied spirit or soul of a deceased person, and have been separated the of ancestors or relatives from the souls of demons to date. The souls of ancestors or relatives are regarded as the benefits or the positive effects for people and then those words returned for a specific or simple purpose. Yet, the demonic ghosts such as the revenants or the disembodied ghosts, deceased people return from the dead to haunt the living. Besides, most ghosts were souls assigned to Purgatory, condemned for a specific period to atone for their transgressions in life. Their penance was generally related to their sin.

2. The perspectives of Ghosts from different religions a. Chinese folk belief The spirits separated the gentle ghosts from the evil ghosts in Chinese those who are benevolent and just during their lifetime will become the gentle ghosts. The small ones could protect their later generations from the disaster, the great others such as Lord Guan, Kong Ming could become the deities. However, the evil people have to be punished in the , and they could not stay and do some evils in the world. Therefore, most evil ghosts are not those who are the evil people, but those who were tragically killed or coerced to commit suicide. Since, they couldn’t seek justice and take revenge

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during lifetime, they became the ghosts of wrongly accused. So they have played tricks on people since they died.

b. Buddhism The main Buddhistic doctrine The six realms of rebirths involves: rebirth as a deva, an asura, a human being, an animal, a , or a being in (). With a concept of krama, the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India has transmigrated endlessly in the six realms. In other words, according to Buddhism, ghosts are really not transformed from people upon their death. If the Buddhistic monks and nuns could release souls from purgatory and offer sacrifices to them, it will be the good way for spirits to get into the cycle of reincarnation in early time. That leads to hold the ceremonies of doing dharma events, charities and the Seven Days in Coffin. After forty-nine days, spirits could enter the realm of ghost and become the ghost formally.

c. Islamism Before Islamism was founded, Arabian have known the concept of various gods and ghosts. However, the Islam world also have existed the sense of devils, so Islam imbibed the early Arab World of ghost tales, local Islamic legends and Jewish, Christain scriptures afterward, and transform them into the blurred ghost world of Islam. But Muslim think genies, the Islamic representative ghost, carry the bad luck to people or make people encounter many disaters. The most massive damages is Satan left.

d. Christianity According to the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew says that Satan was a seraph initially, which is an angel of the highest rank but because of rebelling against Jehovah, Satan was hit down to hell and became to fallen angel. Finally, Satan fell continuously until it transformed into a devil, the leader of those ghosts in the Christain ghost world. Consequently, Satan is not a spirit which people became, even created much earlier than the first human ancestor, Adam. In addition, Bible explains clearly the origin, level and behavior of ghost. In Synoptic Gospel, it also declares a king of ghost, Satan, is restrained by the power of Jesus completely.

B. The introductions of the Ghost festival and Halloween

1. The Ghost Festival a. The origin of Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival is also called Hungry Ghost Festival. Both Buddhists and Taoists

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claim that the Ghost Festival originated with their religion. However, its roots may be probably in and antedated both religions. In , the Buddhist festival Ullambana and the Ghost Festival were mixed and celebrated together. Buddhist Ullambana festival, which originally came from India, can be traced back to a folk tale Mu-lien Saves His Mother from Hell. It describes that Mu-lien is a filial son. He lived with his widowed mother and took care of her. One day Mu-lien told his mother his intention that he wanted to be a monk and started to do his spiritual training. Surely, Mu-lien realized his mother certainly would be sad to live without him but it is his dream that he didn’t want to give up. Years went by before he finished his training but his mother passed on unfortunately. Sad and regretful, he attempted anxiously to see how his mother was doing. He saw his mother in the deepest hell, hungry and in deep terrible training. Mu-lien realized that his mother had done evil things during her lifetime and had no idea to save his mother, so he sought advice from his master that he had to feed or served thousands of people on earth. After years later, Mu-lien was able to rescue his mom from the deepest hell. Because Mu-lien’s meritorious deed reached Buddha and made him touched by Mu-lien's compassion. Thus Buddha decided that the gates of hell would be opened on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month so that the lost souls would be able to roam the earth and be fed. From then on, Chinese have followed the custom since Liang Dynasty and it was evolved into the present Zhongyuan Festival.

b. The celebration activities of the Ghost Festival The Ghost Festival is celebrated on the seventh month fifteenth of the Chinese lunar calendar. During this month, the gates of hell are opened up and ghosts are free to roam the earth where they seek for food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be the ancestors of those who forgot to offer tribute to them, or those who suffered deaths and were never given a proper ritual for a send-off. As for their image, they have long thin necks because they have not been fed by their family, or it is a punishment so they are unable to swallow any food. Therefore, a plentiful feast is held for the ghosts on the fourteenth day of the seventh month. People will bring offerings of food and burn joss papers, only valid in the underworld, to ward off bad luck and to please the ghosts as well as their deceased relatives. Other activities include burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies "giving directions to the lost ghosts."

c. The related legends In addition, there are some dreadful taboos during this month. For instance, it is dangerous for people to play near beaches or swimming pools as it is believed that the evil ghosts would make someone drown in order to gain the rebirths. Children or young

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adults are also advised to return home early and not to wander around alone at night. This belief is due to the reason that the wandering ghosts can possess children easily. Furthermore, it is inauspicious to move into new homes, open new businesses, get married and so on in this month. Believe it or not, the accidents or bad events taking place in this month are said to have somehow relation with the roaming ghosts.

2. Halloween a. The origin of Halloween In Western, Halloween is an important annual festival celebrated on October thirty- first. It is also called All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints’ Eve. The origins of Halloween date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts, having lived in , the United Kingdom and northern France for 2000 years, celebrated their new year on November first. This day marked the end of summer, the harvest and the beginning of the cold winter. And it was often associated with human death and made humans feel especially close to deceased relatives and friends. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October thirty-first, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Because people are entirely dependent on the volatile world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter. To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred , where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

b. The celebration activities of Halloween In addition, Halloween activities and practices include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes, attending costume parties, and carving jack-o’-lanterns. Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costumes from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to a threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. Besides, people have been making jack-o’-lanterns on Halloween for centuries. The practice originated from an Irish myth about a man nicknamed “.” Furthermore, there are several traditional games such as dunking or , in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. Some games traditionally played on Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Irish and Scottish form of divining one's future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, and then toss the peel over one's shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.

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c. Other related events Because the festival comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy apples, caramel or taffy apples are a common Halloween treat made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, and sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts. Furthermore, There are several traditional food such as , candy corn, , , soul and so on. And there are also several traditional superstitions and taboos on Halloween. For instance, we avoid crossing paths with black cats, believing that they might bring us bad luck. This idea has rooted in the Middle Ages, when many people believed that witches avoided detection by turning themselves into cats. Besides, we try not to walk under ladders. And around Halloween, especially, we try to avoid breaking mirrors, stepping on cracks in the road, or spilling salt.

C. The comparisons of Ghost Festivals and religions from Western to Eastern

According to whatever we discuss above, we can find there are lots of differences between the east and west. Table 1 shows the comparison and summary of the Ghost Festival and Halloween. Table 2 shows a variety of superstitions on ghost festivals such as taboos and divinations to examine the traditional common knowledge. Table 3 shows the religions of origins of the Ghost Festival and Halloween, Buddhism and Christianity, to examine their definition about spirits.

Table 1. The comparisons between the Ghost Festival and Halloween The Ghost Festival Halloween Date On the seventh month fifteenth On October thirty-first Official name Hungry Ghost Festival All Hallows’ Eve Ullambana festival All Saints’ Eve Zhongyuan Festival Chinese Halloween Origin of religions Buddhism and Christian and Celtic Cradle India The ancient Celt Legends Mu-lien Saves His Mother The Goddess Pomona Jack O’ Lantern Observed by Asian Around the world Kinds of ghost revenant, vengeful spirit, witch, a human skeleton, vampire, disembodied ghost werewolf, bat, and black cat Colors white black and orange

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Activities a plentiful feast of offerings, costume parties, apple bobbing, burying, releasing miniature trick-or-treating in costumes, paper boats and lanterns, bonfires, divination, carving wresting offerings jack-o’-lanterns

Table 2. The superstitions between the Ghost Festival and Halloween The Ghost Festival Halloween Don’t buy a car or house. Avoid a candle going out. Don’t get married Avoid allowing a fire to burnout. Avoid playing in the water. Don't burn the Halloween candles at any Don't buy too much food but joss other time of the year. money when you worship. Don’t turn around to see if you hear Don't worship in the house. footsteps trailing close behind you. Don't pull out your leg hair. Seeing their future husband if girls carry a Don't dry your clothes at midnight. lamp to a spring. Don't open your umbrella under Seeing the future by gazing candle's fire. the roof. Lighting a new candle at midnight to Don't look at the mirror at sunrise, you will receive good luck. midnight. It’s a death omen if bat flies around a Don't blow a whistle at midnight. house three times. Don't celebrate birthday at Born on Halloween can see, talk to spirits. midnight. If you see a spider watching you, it could be your dead lover’s spirit. Devil was a nut-gatherer. So nuts were used as magic charms. Taboo Keep the evil away with a burning candle Divination Knocking on wood keeps bad luck away. To ward off evils Walk around your home three times

counterclockwise before the sunset come

out to ward off evil spirits.

Table 3. The comparisons between Buddhism and Christianity Buddhism Christianity God Not entail any godly figures. Only one God, Jesus. Entered the six realms of rebirths. Distributed to hell. Eternal Life It depends on the karma of one's It has nothing to do with karma in present life. and comes as a salvation.

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Forms Of monasticism, ringing of bells, monasticism, confession, ringing Worship bowing, use of and of bells, use of rosary and incense rosary, erection of towers or and the erection of towers. stupas, prayers and meditation. It is not only God who shows love God's love gives to his folks or Love and and takes care of his people, but devotees, and claims that love Compassion gives an love for the entire should be showed not only your mankind and every other being friends, but the entire beings. The World’s It neither deals with the beginning It has created the world and rules it Concept nor a definite end of the world. according to his definite plan. Asceticism Buddha rejected extreme Jesus Christ also rejected extreme asceticism and self-liberation asceticism. through knowledge.

III. Conclusion

On our way to research, we viewed the information about people who come from Eastern to Western, even from a variety of religions. They have different perspectives as well as relative events or practices on it. In addition, the representative ghost festivals from different countries or religions have some differences and similarities that we are very interested in. For instance, the Hungry Ghost Festival and Halloween, they are observed mostly in Asia and North America or Europe. Each one from their country has a little exotic traditional culture involved in, probably influenced by their country’s main religious belief or the culture of another country which had governed. No matter what reasons may be, they all are very important factors to form the unique ghost culture.

Besides, the superstitions and some taboos are very interesting but incredible to us, we find the superstitions of Chinese during the Ghost Month mostly are negative or detrimental to people. In contrast, the superstitions of North America and Europe are also positive and negative to people on Halloween. Furthermore, we learn about the positive superstitions are almost related to divine. According to this proof, we can understand that people are very curious about their future and regarded it as their entertainment. In addition, we find a similarity of the superstition between the Ghost Festival and Halloween is that “don’t turn around to see if you hear footsteps trailing close behind you.” It is incredible for us to believe whether a horrible taboo is real or not.

Yet, although those diverse cultures of ghost festivals have been preserved, the youth generation thinks little of it, despite eastern and western. In modern Asia, youths may

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regard festivals, ancestors and ghosts as a tradition, perhaps not entirely realistic. Similarly, in North America, few have completely abandoned the practice, which their elders maintain. What a regrettable circumstance that the cultural assets are forgotten and disappeared with time. In fact, it is a very meaningful, valuable asset that we should pass down it from generation to generation.

With this project inspiring, we attain lots of harvest of knowledge such as the traditional tales about origin of ghost festivals, the ghost perspectives of religions, many interesting events and customs on ghost festivals and the valuable experience of teamwork especially. If we have chances to do thesis which are related to the domain of ghost, we will dig out further and emphasize on the religious tales, meaningful and mysterious.

References

1.布萊恩．威爾森(1999)。基督宗教的世界。台北市：世界宗教博物館發展基會。 2.野上俊靜(1972)。中國佛教史概說。台北市：臺灣商務印書館股份有限公司。 3.長春藤生活英語 (2008)。The Traditions of Halloween。普及英語雜誌社，65， 23-24。 4.A&E Television Networks (1996). History of the Jack-O’ Lantern. Available: http://w ww.history.com/content/halloween/the-jack-o-lantern/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern. Dec.14, 2009 5.Buddhist-Tourism (2007). Buddhism & Other Religions. Buddhism & Christianity Available:http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/religion/buddhism-christianity.ht ml. Jan.2, 2010 6.Chinavoc (2001). Chinese Festivals. Ghost Festival. Available: http://www.chinavoc.com/festivals/ghost.htm. Dec.13, 2009 7. Bestbuy (2008). Feng Shui Alert. Hungry Ghost Festival Taboos. Available:http://www.fengshuibestbuy.com/hungryghostfestival.html. Dec.15, 2009 8. Ghosts (2006). Angels & Ghosts. Ghosts & Religion. Available: http://www.angelsghosts.com/ghosts_religion.html. Dec.19, 2009 9. My-Island-Penang (2006). My-Island-Penang. Mu-Lian. Available: http://www.my-island-penang.com/Mu-Lian.html. Dec.13, 2009 10. Wikipedia (2009). Ghost. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost. Nov.30, 2009 11. Wikipedia (2009). Ghost Festival. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Festival. Dec.14, 2009

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