On our wander around Little India we started to notice all these little alters and offerings. Most consisted of incense and oranges, sometimes with cake and others had a variety of fruits, biscuits (Oreos!) dumplings and tea. There were also people throwing paper up into the air, burning paper on the side walk or in bins, lets just say it definitely caught our attention. We stopped to ask one guy but we hit a bit of a communication barrier so when we got home that night I googled it up to find it was for the Hungry Ghost Festival. A tradition where respect is paid to those passed and offerings are presented. The burning paper is actually Joss Paper, thought to have value in the afterlife. I believe an aspect to the festival is also to please the ghosts so they don't cause any ill. I love it :)
They also set up entertainment for the ghosts. apparently you're meant to leave the first row of seats empty for all the spirits to sit :)
We came across this sign about making sure to burn your joss paper in bins and not on the footpath or grass :p I was telling the guy at our hotel, this would never be allowed in Australia and he said that it would never not be allowed here :) he he, despite the signs we saw many people just burning wherever :p
It rained every day on our holiday and after a few days the site of some of these shrines were a little mmm, washed out!
