The "Hungry Ghost Month" Rant

Warning - this is a rant post. Whatever is written here is my personal view and I'll simply delete away any flame comments.

I absolutely dread the Chinese 7th Lunar Month aka Hungry Ghost Month. This is when religious Chinese burn joss sticks and joss papers and other fancy papercrafts as a tribute to their ancestors, supposedly allowing them to receive the burnt stuff in the form of money and luxury items in the dead world.

Ok, all these sound really pious and good, loving acts for the ancestors. And no offense to those who burn offerings with a caring mind to think of others. But I simply cannot tolerate folks who burn the joss papers everywhere like nobody's business and as if they own the whole bloody common void deck and greenery. Hello, the government provided free recycled giant oil drums to let you burn your stuff inside it so that you won't dirty the grass patches and cement floors. Why do you have to ignore the oil drum that is only 1 metre away and insist on burning your stuff on the grass patches and cement floors and drain covers? Do you know how dirty it gets with all the ashes flying around with the smoke into the windows of your helpless neighbors who happen to live just some floors above where you commit your burning acts? Do you know how dirty it gets in the aftermath, especially if it rains, that the poor road sweeper have a hell-of-a-time trying to clean up the leftover mess? Do you know when the ashes smear onto white shirts and dresses they almost can't be removed? Do you know the black circular patches of burnt grass are nothing as pleasant looking as crop circles?

To be fair, let me try to put myself in your shoes. Ok, so you absolutely cannot use the oil drum because everybody else uses it and you do not want to accidentally mix up your burnt donations among others and in the end it doesn't get delivered to the correct recipient... Wait, the location where you are burning now doesn't belong to you, or your daddy, or your great-great-grand-daddy. It's a common green and common void deck. It's not the backyard of your kampong hut anymore, wise guy. Are you 100% certain that burning on this drain cover will let you successfully deliver your tributes to your ancestor?

Let me offer a better solution to you. You want to plant joss sticks to direct your ancestors to the correct location? Plant them along your windows. You want to make sure your burning offerings get delivered correctly? Burn them inside your own home. Your 100sqm or whatever-size home is what you own and where you stay. Nobody will question what you burn inside there, and you can be sure this is 100 times more accurate in terms of delivery. Wait. The firemen might object, but that is another issue altogether.

End note, people should learn the essence of traditions and implement the good points wisely, not follow steps of traditions like dummies.