Event: Hungry Ghost Festival and Photography Competition

Date: 31^st July – 28^th August 2011

Venue: Around Penang

Organizer: Tiong Guan Association

The Penang State Tourism Development and Culture office and Tiong Guan Association will be organizing various activities for this year's Hungry Ghost Festival from the 31^st July to 28^th of August. Many different prayers, events and traditional performances have been scheduled throughout the month.

There will be Chinese Opera and traditional puppet shows in Hokkien around George Town, Datuk Keramat and Mount Erskine. Members of the public can also catch these performances in Teochew around George Town, Batu Lanchang, Tg. Tokong, Air Itam and Jelutong.

In addition to that, Tiong Guan Association will also be organizing a special 3 day-Filial Piety Festival from the 26^th August to the 28^th August 2011 at Padang Brown, Datuk Keramat. The 3 day festival consist of special prayers for believers and devotees and interesting traditional performances for members of the public. During this festival, members of the public are encourage to experience “Netherworld Tour”, a Chinese folk ritual where believers are brought to the underworld to meet their relatives who have passed on. The highlight of the Filial Piety Festival is the Special Prayer “Ba Xian” which will commence t 8.00p.m on the 27^th of August (Saturday).

It is believed that during the Hungry Ghost month, the Gates of Hell are thrown open for spirits and ghosts from the nether world to roam free in search of food. This festival is indeed part and parcel of Penang’s local culture. The Penang State Tourism Development and Cultural have distributed flyers and posters around Penang in hope that members of the public especially foreign visitors will take this opportunity to experience this annual cultural event.

In conjunction with the Hungry Ghost Festival, the Penang State Tourism Development and Culture office will be organizing a Photography Competition. The 1^st prize winner will receive RM500, followed by RM300 for the 2^nd prize and RM100 for the 3^rd prize. Two consolation prizes will receive RM50 each.

Please download the registration form here.

For more information on the photography competition, please contact Miss Nadia at 04-650 5136 or through e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it gov.my