The Mid-Summer Ghost Festival - the offering of sacrifices held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month is a custom dating back thousands of years which has been passed on through many generations. According to Taoist beliefs, this festival of deliverance originated on the birthday of the Chinese Guardian of Hell who governs all matters in the underworld and decreed an amnesty out of mercy so all lost souls could be released back to the mortal world from hell on the 1st day of July To enjoy incense, candles and food offered to the spirits for a period of one month so they might be converted to "The Way." The Buddhists designate the mid-summer sacrifices as the Ghost Festival Legend has it that Moginlin, a disciple of Buddha Sakyamuni, entered the path of hungry spirits in Hell to rescue his deceased mother from suffering there. On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, five fruits and a hundred delicacies were offered in ten directions to all the ghosts in space to relieve his mother's suffering in hell. Both of these interpretations en-compass the Chinese spirits of forbearance, charity and filial piety.
The origin of Mid-Summer Ghost Festival in Keelung can be traced back to the "Changchow and Chuanchow Clash". It was a war between the people of Changchow and Chuanchow coming from Fukien Province of Mainland China that occurred in August 1851 (1st year of Ching dynasty Emperor Hsien Feng,). Many people died violently in this brutal fight. A sacrificial ceremony was performed on the verge of further revenge and provocation. Fortunately, knowledgeable people of high esteem stopped in to mediate and the imminent clash did not take place. it was then decided that families would alternately by family name offer sacrifices to relieve the souls of the dead from suffering in the next world, regionalism was replaced by kinship, substituted for the undesirable customs of fracturing skulls.
The sacrificial services have been conducted ever since for 150 years and supported by both scholars and commoners. The first Mid-Summer Ghost Festival in Keelung was held in 1856 (fifth year of the Ching dynasty Emperor Hsien Feng). The 11 family sects of Chang-liao-Chien, Wu, Liu-Tung-Tu, Cheng-Hu-Yao, Hsieh, Lin, Chiang, Jen, Ho-Lan-Han, Lai. Hsu, drew lots to alternately become the principal sponsor who officiated over the services of delivering all the souls in the Ghost Festival. In 1954, members with family names of Li, Kuo, Wang, Yang, Tseng, Huang, Ko-Tsai, Chieu-Chiu, Su, Chow-Lian, Chung-Hsia-Yeh, Pdi, Yu-Hsu-Tu, Dong-Tung, established the Association of Joint Family Names, resulting in a total of twelve family groups alternating the sponsorship. Subsequently in 1980, the Kuo and Li families left the Association. In 1985, Huang family began holding services independently. There are now a total of 15 associations.
