A Money-Making Machine

The Possession(inset), the film that stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan of the American TV series, Grey's Anatomy  and Supernatural,sounds like a proper film for last August. After all, it is an Exorcist-influenced supernatural horror film about a sinister demon which dwells inside a Dybbuk box and over here and elsewhere, the Chinese were celebrating Hungry Ghost Festival. The Hungry Ghost Festival or Chong Yuan Festival had been celebrated since the Liang Dynasty (502-557 A.D.) but it is said to be Indian influenced.The Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节)or Zhongqiu Festival came after the Chong Yuan Festival but I bet the Chinese of the Liang period did not celebrate it any earlier like the present Chinese. After watching The Possession in the local theater in Taiping Sentral early this month,some of my friends had wandered off to buy moon cakes for their family. The moon cakes are a must for Zhongqiu Festival but I remember weeks earlier, when the Chong Yuan Festival is in full swing, the delicacies could already be found abundantly in the market. Festivals are indeed a money-making machine! 

   Happy Mooncake Festival!