Offerings in Vietnam Ghost Month

A typical custom that occurs from the 15th day to the end of the Vietnam Ghost Month is to create a feast of well-prepared cuisine. Vietnamese, particularly businesspeople in Ho Chi Minh City's Chinatown, believe that the food will feed hungry spirits, and so these spirits will not interfere with their operations.

Vietnamese families frequently make two feasts during the day on the full moon day of Vietnam Ghost Month. The first is offered to the ghosts of ancestors at midday. For the hungry, traveling ghosts, the second feast is frequently served after sunset.

Rice porridge, sugarcane, confections, fruits (which often comprise a variety of fruits with five colors), and sweet potatoes make up the bulk of the food served at feasts. Along with the meal, there are also candles, salt, votive paper, three glasses of water, and three sticks of incense. Gruel porridge is essential because it's said that spirits have a small esophagus and can't digest tough foods. Following the completion of the gifts, salt and rice are thrown on the street and road to send the spirits on their way.