The Etiquette of an Unwelcome Guest

Much of the observance's distinctive character comes from treating the released dead as guests nobody quite wants but everyone is obliged to host properly. Families avoid activities associated with romance, real estate purchase, moving house, swimming and travel during the month, on the reasoning that a wandering spirit might be attracted to a joyful or vulnerable moment and cause misfortune, a set of customary avoidances still followed to varying degrees across Chinese communities in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Street opera and puppet performances staged for the occasion are performed with an empty front row deliberately left for the ghosts to watch from, a detail that treats the audience as literally including its intended, unseen guests rather than merely being dedicated to them in the abstract. At the month's end, floating lanterns are released on rivers and lakes in some regions to guide any remaining wandering spirits back to the underworld, closing the gates the assize is said to have opened and returning the world to its ordinary order until the same time next year.

Overseas Chinese communities in Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia keep the observance with particular public prominence, including large scale roadside auctions of ritual items believed to carry blessing, a commercial elaboration layered onto the religious core that has become one of the month's most visible features in those communities specifically.