The Mid-Autumn Festival and the Hungry Ghost Festival are not the same festival.

The Hungry Ghost Festival falls on the 14th or 15th day of the seventh lunar month, while the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. The Ghost Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. It is a traditional cultural festival for people to worship their ancestors and celebrate the harvest. The Mid-Autumn Festival is also a traditional Chinese folk festival, but it evolved from worshiping the moon on Autumn Eve in ancient times.

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Ghost Festival, Ghost Festival, Zhaigu Festival, and Diguan Festival, is the Festival of Worshiping Ancestors in the seventh half of July. The main festival customs include worshiping ancestors, setting off river lanterns, worshiping dead souls, and burning paper. Ingots etc. The Hungry Ghost Festival evolved from the "half-July" period of ancient times when farmers harvested crops and tasted autumn food to worship ancestors.

July and a half is a folk festival in early autumn to celebrate the harvest and reward the earth. When certain crops are mature, it is customary for folk to worship their ancestors, use new rice and other sacrifices, and report the autumn harvest to their ancestors. It is a way to remember their ancestors. It is a traditional cultural festival whose cultural core is respecting ancestors and fulfilling filial piety.

Hungry Ghost Festival Customs

1. Ancestor Worship

According to folklore, on July 15th, the souls of ancestors will return home to visit their descendants. , so people need to worship their ancestors. There are many kinds of ancestor worship rituals, such as visiting graves and burning paper, offering sacrifices at home, or placing river lanterns.

In some places, there are some specific rituals. On this night, the souls of the ancestors are taken home, and meals are provided to the ancestors three times a day in the morning, noon and evening until the end of July.

2. Central Plains Pudu

Folklore says that people will turn into ghosts after death and wander between heaven and earth. Pudu in the Central Plains is to worship those lonely ghosts who have no descendants to worship, so that they can also feel the warmth of the world. This is also an expression of the "fraternity" thought in our traditional culture. Between the 1st and 30th day of the seventh lunar month, people will put out various sacrifices to worship these ghosts and pray for peace, good fortune and good weather.

Reference for the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Hungry Ghost Festival