Well talk about an assault on the senses!
My goodness we were the only four expats at this dinner of over 1000 Chinese participants .
The noise,not provided by the guests but by the facilitators of the function had to be experienced to be believed.I am sure they could hear us in GeorgeTown and we were in the back blocks of Batu Ferringhi .
Two men had the microphones and they screamed,shouted,laughed hysterically and told jokes in Chinese all evening.We left at 10.30 totally numbed!
The food was marvellous,seafood,duck,pork,vegetables and chicken.The experience was amazing!
The function was to celebrate the ensuing end of the festival period where the gates of hell close up again and the spirits return after they have been free to roam for the month.
The effigy was burnt on August 23.
Taoist practices encourage people to be introspective and reflect on their wrongdoings this month.
People are also encouraged to remember their late parents and as a gesture of love,they pray and make offerings at their ancestral halls.
Taoists believe the ghost month is a time for all of us to repent of our wrongdoings,and actively do good deeds.
It is also time to recall the ancestors and the values that they tried to impart when they were alive.