This year & the next celebration
When is Ghost Festival?
16 days ago
Ghost Festival 2026
27 August 2026Open this calendar month →338 days away
Ghost Festival 2027
16 August 2027Open this calendar month →Ghost Month 2027: start and end
The seventh lunar month runs from 2 August 2027 through 31 August 2027, 30 days. Ghost Festival falls on its fifteenth day, 16 August 2027.
See the calendar for the start of Ghost Month →Meaning & living traditions
What is Ghost Festival?
Offerings and remembrance
In Hong Kong’s Chiu Chow communities, Yu Lan celebrations bring ancestral and spirit observances into neighbourhood life. Offerings and ceremonies connect religious practice with community gatherings.
A neighbourhood festival
Chiu Chow opera, rice distribution, paper craftsmanship and auctions of auspicious objects can form part of local events. These are documented community practices, not a programme followed identically in every household.
One marker, a month of events
This calendar marks the conventional lunar 7/15 observance. Hong Kong’s Chiu Chow Yu Lan celebrations are held at different times during the seventh month, so an organiser’s event date may differ.
Singapore’s neighbourhood stages
In Singapore, temporary stages and tents host getai performances during the seventh month. Programmes can include popular songs alongside older opera and puppetry traditions. They entertain living audiences while retaining a place in the community’s observances for spirits.
Paper offerings and changing everyday life
Paper offerings can represent houses, cars, computers and phones as well as money. Their designs reflect possessions familiar to the families commissioning them. Separately sponsored food distributions through temples extend the occasion to people in need; these are distinct from food laid out as ritual offerings.
Calendar rule
When Ghost Festival falls
The fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month.
The exact rule is 15th day of the 7th lunar month. Its Gregorian date moves because lunar months last 29 or 30 days, while leap months keep the lunar year aligned with the seasons.
Ghost Festival dates, 2023–2032
| Year | Gregorian date | Calendar position |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 30 August 2023 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2024 | 18 August 2024 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2025 | 6 September 2025 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2026 | 27 August 2026 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2027 | 16 August 2027 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2028 | 3 September 2028 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2029 | 24 August 2029 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2030 | 13 August 2030 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2031 | 1 September 2031 | Lunar 7/15 |
| 2032 | 20 August 2032 | Lunar 7/15 |
Observance
How it is observed
In Hong Kong's Cheung Chau Yu Lan tradition, communities offer food to wandering ghosts and perform rites including burning a Ghost Master effigy; other Yu Lan traditions use different sequences.
Common questions
Understanding Ghost Festival
Are all Ghost Festival events on the fifteenth day?
No. The calendar date identifies the conventional observance, while individual community programmes can take place on other seventh-month dates. Check the organiser when planning a visit.
Why are front-row seats sometimes left empty at getai?
In the Singapore tradition, those seats are reserved for spirit guests. An empty front row can be an intentional part of the observance.
Why are the spirits called “hungry”?
The name reflects a belief that some spirits have no descendants to provide offerings. The rites address those unattended spirits as well as family ancestors.
The calendar around the next occurrence
Ghost Festival in 2027
Monday, 16 August 2027 is lunar month 7, day 15, in lunar year 2027. The festival falls in the Yin Fire Goat year.
The festival’s lunar year
Yin Fire Goat
354 days across 12 lunar months, with no leap month.
Explore this lunar year →Inside lunar month 7
30 days in this month
From 2 August 2027 to 31 August 2027. The festival is on day 15.
Beginning of Autumn
The solar term begins on 8 August 2027.
Convert the festival date →
Moon around the celebration
Waxing gibbous
The festival keeps lunar day fifteen. The nearest full moon falls on 17 August 2027 at 15:29 · UTC+8.
Moon phases for the festival month →Before and after this festival
8 August 2027
QixiLunar date & day reading →16 August 2027
Ghost FestivalLunar date & day reading →15 September 2027
Mid-Autumn FestivalLunar date & day reading →
The next celebration · 16 August 2027 · UTC+8
The complete Ghost Festival day reading
The festival sets the occasion; its day pillar, activities, directions and hours change each year. This reading is for 16 August 2027.
Daily almanac · 2027-08-16
Ghost Festival: activities & day animal
丁卯 Yin Fire Rabbit
The stem gives Fire; the branch gives Rabbit.
Read this stem against your Day Master →Huang Dao and Hei Dao name the day-god cycle. For a particular plan, read its Yi and Ji activities below.
宜 Traditionally suitable
- Hold a wedding嫁娶
- Consecrate a sacred image开光
- Ritual offerings祭祀
- Pray for blessings祈福
- Pray for children求嗣
- Install an incense altar安香
- Move a sacred altar or flame出火
- Ritual cleansing or removal解除
- Fell timber伐木
- Move into a new home入宅
- Move residence移徙
- Set up a bed安床
- Open a business or market开市
- Trade交易
- Sign a contract立券
- Plant crops栽种
- Travel出行
- Burial安葬
忌 Traditionally avoid
Calendar terms explained
This day in the traditional cycles
Each result below names this date’s position and explains what the term means.
- Day pillar 日柱
- Yin Fire Rabbit · 丁卯— this date’s position in the repeating 60-day stem–branch cycle.Hidden stems are stems conventionally contained in the day pillar’s earthly branch. Primary is the main layer; middle and residual are secondary layers.
- Yin Wood · Yǐ 乙 (primary)
- Month pillar 月柱
- Yang Earth Monkey · 戊申— the month’s position in the 60-part stem–branch cycle.
- Year pillar 年柱
- Yin Fire Goat · 丁未— Fire generates Earth; the year’s position in the 60-year cycle.
- Day Na Yin 纳音
- Furnace Fire · 炉中火— a fixed named element assigned to this pillar; its element is Fire.
- Day animal 生肖
- Rabbit · 兔— the animal of the earthly branch in this date’s pillar.
- Opposes 冲
- Yin Metal Rooster · 辛酉— a Six Clash (六冲), the branch directly opposite this date’s branch in the 12-branch cycle.
- Lunar mansion 宿
- Extended Net · 张— this date’s position in the repeating 28-mansion cycle.South palace (南) · Deer creature (鹿) · traditionally favourable (吉)
- Day officer 建除
- Danger · 危— determined by this date’s earthly branch relative to its solar-term month branch.
- Auspicious directions 吉方
- Joy 喜神: South (正南)
- Blessing 福神: Southeast (东南)
- Wealth 财神: Southwest (西南)
- Peng Zu lines 彭祖百忌
- The verse cautions against cutting hair, saying sores may appear.丁不剃头头必生疮The verse cautions against digging a well, saying the water may not be sweet.卯不穿井水泉不香Two traditional almanac caution lines selected by this date’s stem and branch.
All hours and their hour gods · UTC+8
Auspicious hours for Ghost Festival
Read every interval and its traditional classification. A favorable hour is separate from suitability for a particular activity.
Controller of Destiny
AuspiciousGou Chen
InauspiciousAzure Dragon
AuspiciousBright Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Punishment
InauspiciousVermilion Bird
InauspiciousGolden Coffer
AuspiciousHeavenly Virtue
AuspiciousWhite Tiger
InauspiciousJade Hall
AuspiciousHeavenly Prison
InauspiciousDark Warrior
InauspiciousHeavenly Prison
Inauspicious
The Rat double-hour crosses midnight. Its 00:00–00:59 and 23:00–23:59 portions belong to different hourly cycles, so both are listed separately. How the hourly cycle works →
The Moon this month · UTC+8
August 2027 moon phases
New moon
Lunar 7/1
First quarter
Lunar 7/8
Full moon
Lunar 7/16
Last quarter
Lunar 7/24
Calculated phase moments use fixed UTC+8. A lunar day number and a Moon phase describe different things. How they fit together →
Plan around Ghost Festival
See the festival in its month or compare the surrounding days with your own birth-year animal.