Roaming spirits will not disturb people in North Sumatra for a while after hundreds of Indonesians of Chinese descent fed the phantoms during the Hungry Ghost Festival held recently at Gunung Timur Temple in Medan.

Coming from many areas in the province, followers of Confucianism joined the festival, also known as Tjit Gue Pua, held from Friday morning until midnight.

As many as 2,000 packages, replicas of houses and paper imitating bank notes were prepared and then presented to the so-called '€œhungry ghosts'€ during the festival.

After being blessed by their religious preachers, the offerings, which comprised staple foods such as rice noodles, tofu and beans, and fruits, were distributed to needy people. Some of the fake money was thrown into the air or burned along with the house replicas.

Besides the fake bank notes and house replicas, two giant effigies of the god of ghosts, one in green face and the other in red face, were also set on fire.

Jasin, a member of the temple'€™s board, said the ritual of offerings and replicas was a manifestation of their belief in roaming spirits.

'€œOur religion believes in roaming spirits. In this festival, we feed them to make them safe and comfortable in their place,'€ the 54-year-old Jasin told The Jakarta Post.

He said the feeding of the roaming spirits was also aimed at saving the world from possible disturbances generated by hungry ghosts.

Jasin said the annual festival was conducted on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, as the followers believed that the door of hell opened during that day, letting the ghosts run amok and look for food.

'€œIn essence, through this ritual, we want to free the souls of our ancestors from sorrow. We believe that making good to the souls is the same as making good [to people],'€ he said.

Sudarto, a Medan resident, said he joined the festival every year to show his respect to his late parents.

'€œMy parents have passed away. Through these offerings, I want to ensure good things for them and show my love to them,'€ he said.

He said he brought offerings of money replicas and bread and fruit for the souls of his late parents.

Meanwhile, Cu Ping Cin, 81, a senior member of the local Indonesian Chinese society who was entrusted to manage the festival, said that he had prepared the event for two months.

Cu, also known by his Indonesian name Selamat, said he organized a special ritual a week before the event, during which he asked for permission from the Gods to smooth over the festival.

He said before the event, seven flags in different colors were put around the temple. Participants of the festival, he continued, believed that the flags would attract the roaming ghosts and gather them in the venue.

'€œThe flags were installed a week before the festival and pulled down after the event was over,'€ he said.

He claimed no ghosts had ever disturbed human beings since he became involved in the festival twenty years ago. Instead, he said the ghosts were very pleased because they were fed heartily during the festival.

Chinese cultural expressions were banned under the authoritarian leadership of former president Soeharto after he took power from president Sukarno in 1966 and then ruled the country for 32 years. The anti-communist administration also called on Indonesians of Chinese descent to adopt Indonesian names.

After the downfall of Soeharto in 1998, a year later, then president Abdurrahman Wahid revoked the ban on Chinese cultural expression in public as stated in a presidential decree No. 14/1967. President Megawati declared Imlek (Chinese Lunar New Year) as a national holiday in 2002.

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