Arts & Entertainment
Chinatown To Host Hungry Ghost Festival Saturday
Hosted by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, the event will celebrate the Chinese tradition of the Hungry Ghost Festival.
SAN FRANCISCO — Promising a vibrant cultural and artistic experience, the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco will celebrate the Chinese tradition of the Hungry Ghost Festival in San Francisco's Chinatown on Saturday.
From 4-9 p.m. at the Chinatown-Rose Pak Central Subway station's upper plaza and Portsmouth Square, attendees are invited to partake in interactive art, live music, cultural performances and a showcase of local Chinatown businesses. The festival is family-friendly and free.
Marking the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Hungry Ghost Festival is a celebration of a time in the year when the boundary between the living and spiritual realms disappears, allowing the living to honor the deceased. The festival is believed to provide solace to ancestors, restless spirits and the living, especially as they heal from historic injustices and generational traumas.
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The festival will showcase altars and booths from the Lotus Taoism Institute, the Marigold Project (a community organization focused on connecting communities with their ancestors), and the Balay Kreative (a Filipino arts accelerator), alongside the artwork and altars of Latinx, Native American, Filipino and Pacific Islander communities who share similar traditions.
At the start of the festival, visitors are encouraged to dress up, bring props and march alongside a 14-foot-tall "Ghost King," as the paper craft representing the souls of unreconciled pasts blesses the neighborhood.
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From 5-9 p.m., along with interactive art activities, the "getai" or traditional stage will host performances and a live DJ set.
The event is sponsored by the California Natural Resources Agency, San Francisco Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development with support from San Francisco Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission, California Department of Social Services' Stop the Hate program, Asian Pacific Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.
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