This last friday, the staff in the estate where i work had our annual Hungry Ghost session. This is where offerings are made to appease the hungry ghost. Every year it gets more interesting as i learn more about the entire "event"
From the pics you will notice and altar on the floor as well as one on the table.The one on the floor i am told is the altar for the gods of the eart and the one on the table is for the hungry ghost. It was very interesting as we had Muslims, hindhus, Christians, Taoist and Buddhist all involved .
On the hungry ghost table there were two bits of cresent shaped wood, and these are used to divine the will of the hungry ghost. The two blocks are thrown down on the ground and if they both fall on opposing faces that means your request is g
ranted, be it 4d or if you have burnt enough papper before eating the food.All prayers or offerings start with the god of eart, so proper respect must be shown to that before you can proceed onto the hungry ghost. The rites and customs seem to have changed or evolved as even
between taoist and buddhist there were major differences, as the event was handled by a taoist we followed custom common to them. One of the things that was new to me wwas that the colour of the joss sticks burnt had significance, red for god and green for ghost.
Each item burnt has significance and, some are made to look like clothing while others beer cans, lots of care is given
to the selection of items and preparing them for burning. As i said its an experience and while i am sure most of the infomation i have given here will be disputed (as it is in my office the debate rages on about the location of the altars) The even itself was bot fun and relaxing and it was nice to see malays, indians, chinese , 
eurasians ..people of different races and faith getting involved.
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