Lunar July — Devil’s Month
To begin with, maybe a lot of people do not know the fact that in some Asian countries, there is a so-called Lunar Calendar.
This type of calendar is opposite to the Solar Calendar that is used all over the world. It is calculated based on the movement of the moon. What I would like to tell you about is the seventh month of this calendar (normally it is August in the Solar Calendar) which is called “Devil’s month”.
According to the legend, this month is the period when hell’s door is opened, authorizing dead people’s souls to come back to the world of living people, to visit their families, and friends, to take part in “festivals” particularly organized for ghosts… As you all have known, there are not only good souls that just want to see their relatives, but also bad souls that always try to harm living people. Therefore, our ancestors created some “unwritten laws” that we have to strictly obey to avoid spiritually dangerous things:
- Do not go out after midnight because according to folk beliefs, that is when the devil is most active, especially between 1 am to 3 am.
- Do not hang clothes outside at night to dry them, because there are wandering devils that maybe want to “borrow” them to wear. And of course, it’s not a good thing to wear these clothes.
- The dark corners of the wall are places where the devil often gathers to rest.
- Do not call or scream each other’s name in the middle of the night because this action will make the devil remember the name of the person being called and may haunt that person.
- Do not stand near the banyan tree, because according to folk beliefs, at night under the banyan tree, the tree gathers a lot of negative energy, especially in this month. Therefore, young people should not sit, lie down, or hide there to avoid the devil’s teasing.
- Do not hang wind chimes at the head of the bed because the sound of wind chimes will attract the devil to the house.
- Do not pluck legs on this day, because we believe that “One leg hair controls three demons”, the more hair a person has, the less the devil dares to approach.
- Don’t scare others, they will be easily penetrated by demons.
- When going to bed, do not let the toe of the slippers face the bed, otherwise, the devil will see that a living person is lying on the bed.
- Do not take pictures at night, because the ghosts that are always around will be “invisible” in the photo with the living.
And several other rules but these are very popular things we have to remember to avoid bad luck.
