Should we eat offerings to wandering souls?

The question of whether or not to eat offerings to wandering souls is asked by many people on the full moon day of the 7th lunar month. On this day, in addition to the offerings to ancestors, gods, and Buddha (for Buddhists), families also have a ceremony to worship sentient beings, also known as the offering to wandering souls. This ceremony is often performed outdoors, even on the street, for homeless souls who have no relatives to worship them.

Regarding the reason for offering to wandering souls outdoors, folklore holds that strange souls can be good or bad, and if invited into the house, they may encounter trouble if disturbed, so offering outside will ensure peace for the homeowner. Some people explain that each family's residential land is guarded by a local god, and "unauthorized" souls will not be allowed to enjoy the offering, or they will be afraid and will not dare to enter.

Regarding offerings to wandering souls, many people believe that if they eat them, they will make the wandering souls, who are always hungry and thirsty, angry because they feel their food is being taken away, and will cause trouble, leading to bad luck, from mild to severe, stomachaches and discomfort, to other bad things.

However, in some localities in the South, there is a custom of snatching offerings to wandering souls, and there are even scenes of people fighting over them. People believe that if offerings to wandering souls are snatched by outsiders, the homeowner’s bad luck will disappear, and the person who snatches the offerings will also receive good luck.

So, should we eat offerings to wandering souls? In terms of beliefs, each place is different, depending on customs. In pagodas, offerings to wandering souls are still used as usual, because Buddhism does not attach to the form of objects. Offerings are offerings of sincerity, what the souls of all living beings receive is a heart of remembrance, sharing, compassion... not a plate of sticky rice or a package of real popcorn.

Therefore, throwing away offerings to wandering souls without eating them is a type of food waste, which is not recommended.

However, in the past, people abstained from eating offerings to wandering souls for a reason. That is, offerings were often placed in the yard, in the alley, on the street, and placed very low. If left for a long time, they easily become unhygienic, contaminated with dust, humidity, and invaded by flies, cockroaches, ants, rats, etc., so they contain many germs.

Surely there have been people who have had stomach aches after eating food offered to wandering souls, and because this happened during the ghost month - a period considered unlucky - the cause was attributed to "ghost teasing", "ghost disturbing"... From there, it led to the concept of abstaining from food offered to wandering souls, especially children, who were advised more carefully.

Nowadays, many offerings to wandering souls are packaged in sealed nylon, such as candy, popcorn, chips, etc., or fruits with their skins intact, so they are completely hygienic. For other dishes, whether or not to eat offerings to wandering souls should be considered from a food safety perspective. If they are still safe, they can be eaten. If they are not safe, they should be discarded or reprocessed.