Ullambana

Ullambana, also known as the Ullambana Festival or the Hungry Ghost Festival, is a Buddhist ritual season observed by East Asian Buddhist communities. The term derives from the Sanskrit ullāmbhana, often interpreted as “hanging upside down,” a reference to the suffering of hungry ghosts. The festival is associated with a story in which the disciple Maudgalyāyana saves his mother from the realms of hungry ghosts after receiving instructions from the Buddha. The observance is described in the Ullambana Sutra and is intended to relieve the plight of deceased relatives and other spirits by making meritorious offerings.

Regional forms and calendar dates vary. In China and Taiwan, the festival is known as the Zhongyuan or Yulanpen Festival and is typically observed on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, with temples performing ceremonies and families offering food and prayers to spirits. In Japan, the practice evolved into Obon, a family-centered festival usually held in midsummer (often July or August) featuring visits to graves, mayō or bon dances, and lights to guide ancestral spirits. In Vietnam, the Vu Lan festival, a filial piety observance, occurs in similar lunar-month periods and includes temple rites and charitable acts. Similar sentiments appear in other East Asian Buddhist communities with local customs.

Practices commonly include almsgiving, chanting, and prayers for the well-being of hungry ghosts and ancestors; offerings of food and incense; the burning of paper offerings or “spirit money”; and, in some locales, lantern releases or other ceremonies intended to guide spirits peacefully. The festival emphasizes mercy, gratitude, and the merit-making common to Buddhist filial piety.