Every year, the Hungry Ghost Festival sees devotees leaving prayers and offerings out for the departed to feast on. Have you ever wondered, where do the food offerings from seventh month prayers go?
While most of them are cleared away by cleaners in the morning, a group of people have been going around the neighbourhoods late at night, scavenging the fruits left out by devotees.
Daniel Tay is a freegan in Singapore who recently organised and led a small group of people on fruit hunts in Bishan and Ang Mo Kio. Freegans reject consumerism and seek to help the environment by reducing waste. And one way of doing so is by collecting edible food or usable items that have been discarded.
Taking to Facebook to share about his experience of an "impromptu orange hunt" on Sept 2 (which according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar was also the 15th day of the seventh month; the day that the Hungry Ghost Festival falls on), Daniel wrote that the hunt was quite success with them yielding 122 oranges, 2 pineapples, 2 apples, and a bunch of bananas.
But wouldn’t they be offending the spirits by taking their offerings?
Speaking to 8World, Daniel shares that he had consulted a Taoist priest prior to starting on the activity, and was told that as long as he waited for the joss sticks to finish burning, the offerings can be removed because our “friends” would have finished eating.
But don’t forget to say a word of thanks and accord a bow of respect, he said. And never take the offerings while the incense is still burning, as it’s extremely rude to take food away from those who are still eating it.
In his Facebook post, Daniel also shared some interesting things observed from Chinese traditions. For example, rituals are conducted in temples, and food is usually offered. After the ritual, the food is deemed to have been consumed by the spirits, and whatever is left behind is unwanted by them. These food offerings are then distributed to the people. The same is true for food offerings during the seventh month – after the candles and incense have finished burning, whatever is left is unwanted by the spirits.
“So as a true freegan, we collect whatever is unwanted by others. We say thank you, and proceed to use it for our own needs and wants,” Daniel writes.
After going around the neighbourhood collecting the fruits, participants split up the produce that they would go on to share with families, friends, and neighbours.
A participant in the fruit hunt said he hopes that Singaporeans can be more open to the idea of freeganism.
"We collected these fruits not because we're cheapskates. We want to salvage these fruits which would otherwise be thrown away and contribute to food waste in Singapore." He shared.
Daniel told 8World that he first started the activity during last year’s seventh month. He tried to get more like-minded people to join him this year, but quite a number of them voiced reservations, citing worries that they would be offending the spirits.
We think that not wasting food is a worthy cause, but it may still be quite some time before Singaporeans are comfortable with collecting discarded food, especially those left behind by spirits who have departed this world! What do you think?