Skip to main content

BrainTeasers: Hungry Ghost Festival, Time For Fruits Rescue

Image from: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bng62yVhbMm/?utm_medium=copy_link

Perfectly edible fruits and food are abandoned after offering to the hungry ghosts. Left to rodents and cockroaches to have a party and feast for the night. What a waste! 

—— Dickson Idlier 

In Chinese culture, the Hungry Ghost Month falls on the seventh month of the Chinese (Lunar) calendar. It is believed that during this month, the gates of hell are opened and wondering ghosts are free to roam the earth looking for food and entertainment. These are hungry and aggrieved ghosts with no families caring for or make offerings to them. Chinese households would try to appease these unhappy ghosts by offering food, money and other supplies. Their primary intention is to prevent these souls from causing problems to them, at the same time, show compassion to these lost souls.

For Freegans In Singapore (FIS), it is the time for us to 'harvest' fruits in this period, mainly the first, fifteen and last day of the seven month. Chinese Taoists and Buddhists in Singapore would make food and joss paper offerings along the pathways. FIS members would walk around their neighbourhood and pick up any fruits after the offerings. Before taking the fruits, below is the procedure to ensure we pay respect to the wandering souls (advised by a Taoist master):

  • Ensure candles, joss sticks and joss papers have stopped burning. 
  • Utter a word of thanks and bow as a sign of respect.
  • Pick up the fruits. 

Daniel Tay, Co-founder of Freegans In Singapore, said in Straits Times Newspaper, "It was common for people living in rural areas to consume the food after offering it to spirits or to leave it out for wild animals or poor passers-by to eat. In the city, it's different. Leaving food out attracts pests like rodents and cockroaches. In the morning, it is likely the town council cleaners who clear it up and throw it away." 

By collecting the fruits and eating them or giving them away, FIS advocates not allowing perfectly edible food to be sent to the incinerator or dumped as trash. 

For the record, on 9th August 2021, I just collected 99 oranges, 15 apples and 2 pineapples around my neighbourhood. And I didn't even pick up all I have seen. Not bad for one night 'harvest', right?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BrainTeasers: Joy Of Giving And Sustainable Charity — Filiporean Project

Giving out the stuff to villagers. Image from:   Giving and Taking Free Stuff Facebook Group You don’t have to be rich to donate. All it takes is having a little compassion and willingness to give. —— Dickson Idlier The “Filiporean Project” is started by Freegans In Singapore co-founder, Colin Lau. The project collects small usable items (details in posts from “ Giving and Taking Free Stuff “ Facebook Group) from public donors or dumpster-dived stuff from Freegans In Singapore (FIS) and donates to Filipino maids in Singapore. The main reason is shipping cost is cheapest to the Philippines. This project has caught up in the news and media in Singapore, so more donations have been pouring in so the maids (numbered to 300) are kept very busy.    Colin saw many usable small items when dumpster-diving around his neighborhood but has no use for them. When he found that Filipino maids wanted these items to bless their family, friends, and neighbors back in their village, he...
Post a Comment
Read more

IdlierStories: Appreciate Everything You Have Got

Positive Brain Facebook Group A man once telephoned Norman Vincent Peale. He was despondent and told the reverend that he had nothing left to live for. Norman Vincent Peale invited the man over to his office. "Everything is gone, hopeless," the man told him. "I'm living in deepest darkness. In fact, I've lost heart for living altogether." Norman Vincent Peale smiled sympathetically. "Let's take a look at your situation," he said calmly. On a sheet of paper he drew a vertical line down the middle. He suggested that they list on the left side the things the man had lost, and on the right, the things he had left. "You won't need that column on the right side," said the man sadly. "I have nothing left, period." Norman Vincent Peale asked, "When did your wife leave you?" "What do you mean? She hasn't left me. My wife loves me!" "That's great!" said Norman Vincent Peale enthusiastically. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

BrainTeasers: Better To Live Cheap Under Budget, Than Live Luxuriously In Debt

Desire for a better life gets us more entrapped in the web of desires to overspend. Only by cutting away these threads of desires can we free ourselves and live a less stressful and more rewarding life by spending below our means.  ——  Dickson Idlier There are two ways to live life: 1. Live in a way that we spend less than we make. 2. Live in a way that spends more than we make. Spending exactly as you make does not happen as emergencies happen all the time, so is still in the second group. People would rationally choose spending less than we make but most don't.  In our civilized society, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements promising a better life than you have... if and only if, you are willing to spend to get it. This is so ingrained in our subconscious, from the moment we become sensible, we subtly and unintentionally fall into this trap. Increased income doesn't quench our desires. Offers for better life grow with our income... nicer cars, bigger houses, ...
Post a Comment
Read more