Is it rude to eat the food offerings ‘given’ to family members who have passed during Hungry Ghost Festival after the ceremony?
primarily in chinese households, there’s usually a tradition where we go and pray / visit our ancestors during the 7th month. often, my family and our relatives will bring food as an offering when we visit the cemetery where family members who have passed are buried at.
however, of course, the food does not end up being ‘eaten’ (the belief is that the ‘soul’ of the food is eaten). hence, my family usually brings the food back and eat it for lunch because we do not want to waste the food.
however, i’ve heard that some households find that eating the food offerings is disrespectful and will bring people bad luck?? what are your thoughts?
Netizens’ comments
- We always eat prayer food. Think of it this way. The departed have dined and you’re just eating the leftovers. It’s fine.
- Taoist temple owner here. It is ok to consume it don’t worry.
- Not for the seventh month, but for qing ming, my extended family will eat the food for lunch too.
One reason of course is that it would be a waste not to eat it. There’s roast chicken and roast pork and other good food.
The other reason is, you can choose to believe that the ancestors will follow the customs of your family. For example, some families will find it rude if children don’t greet their parents with “good morning” when they wake, but other families don’t think this is important. Each family has their own rules. The “ghosts” also follow the rules your family set, doesn’t matter what other families do. So as long as your family okay then can already. - What we do at the workshops is:
we light a joss stick and stick it into the food to offer it to the spirits.
once the joss stick is at the halfway point, we usually “ask” them if they’re done (we throw those red clog things to see the answer).
if the answer is a yes, we can proceed to eat the food.
if the answer is a no, we wait a bit longer.