Can I visit the graves in advance during the Ghost Festival? What are the time and taboos for visiting the graves during the Ghost Festival?

Can I visit the graves in advance during the Ghost Festival? The 2017 Ghost Festival is coming soon. The Ghost Festival is an important traditional sacrificial festival in my country. Many people choose to worship their ancestors on this day. Next, let’s take a look at the time and taboos for visiting graves during the Ghost Festival.

Can I visit the graves in advance during the Ghost Festival?

General Overview

Generally speaking, it is not allowed to visit graves in advance during the Ghost Festival, because the Ghost Festival is on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month (in some places it is the 14th day of the seventh lunar month). On this day, all ghosts will be released from the gates of hell to allow them to return to the world of the living and reunite with their loved ones. Therefore, people generally hold activities to worship ghosts on this day. If you visit graves and offer sacrifices before the Ghost Festival, the ghosts of your loved ones have not yet returned to the world of the living, so they naturally cannot receive your thoughts and prayers. Of course, different places have some local customs. If you can visit the graves in advance in your place, you must respect the local customs and carry out the tomb-visiting and sacrificial activities in advance.

Grave-visiting time

The time and specific procedures for visiting graves during the Ghost Festival vary due to regional cultural differences. The time for visiting graves during the Ghost Festival is generally around this time: If you want to visit the graves and pay respects to your ancestors, it is best to do so in the morning, and be sure to complete the ceremony before 12:00 noon. If you cannot visit the grave, you should find a large intersection to burn paper money after 9pm. In some places, it starts after dark at 5:30 in the evening and lasts until late at night.
Places for worshipping ancestors during the Ghost Festival include: 1. cemeteries; 2. temples; 3. Taoist temples; 4. ancestral halls (family temples); 5. remote worship.

Precautions

The Zhongyuan Festival, Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival are known as the three major sacrificial festivals in China, so people attach great importance to visiting graves and offering sacrifices. In China, especially in rural areas, ancestor worship and visiting graves is a major event that concerns the entire family. Anyone who disrespects ancestor worship or does not participate in the worship will be regarded as disrespectful to their ancestors and ungrateful and will be condemned by people. As for sacrificial activities that are not carried out in accordance with sacrificial regulations, they will have little effect on worshipping ancestral spirits. Therefore, we still have to abide by the time for visiting graves during the Ghost Festival.