| M: |
Yo, man. I saw a bunch of people buying fruit, drinks, pork, chicken and beef yesterday. What happened? Are Martians finally decided to attack the earth? |
| |
嘿，我跟你說啊，昨天我看到一大票人在買水果啦，飲料啦還有豬雞牛肉。怎麼回事？火星人終於決定要入侵地球了嗎？ |
| L: |
What else did the buy? |
| |
他們還買了些什麼其他的嗎？ |
| M: |
Well, tons of praying cash and incense, I guess. |
| |
嗯，還有爆多的紙錢和線香吧。 |
| L: |
Oh, that’s what happened. They were shopping for The Chungyuan Festival. It is one of our representative festival, and I love the day because there will be extra snacks and drink for me. |
| |
喔～原來如此。他們在替中元節採買物資吧。中元節是我們具有指標性的節日其中一個，我很愛這天因為到時候有很多零食和飲料可以吃。 |
| M: |
So what’s the story of the day? |
| |
這個節日的緣由是啥？ |
| L: |
There are several different theory about it, let me give you the version of my father. According to him, the Hell Gate opens once a year in September and all of those ghosts will rush to our world. |
| |
有很多種不同的說法，我跟你說我爸的版本好了，他說每年的九月這個時候，地府的鬼門會開啟，成千上萬的鬼魂會在這時候蜂擁到我們的世界來。 |
| M: |
Ghost? Seriously? |
| |
鬼？真的假的？ |
| L: |
I kid you not. Have you seen Taiwanese people burn praying cash and place food by the grave? We believe our ancients need those cash and food in hell. Now, some ghost are not that lucky, most of them didn’t have family when they were alive, don’ t even mention about food or money, that is why we feed them on The Chungyuan Festival, to show respect and do the Pu Tu for them. So basically, it is kind of memorial Day for the spirits. |
| |
沒有騙你的~你有看過台灣人在墳墓前燒紙錢和放食物吧！？因為我們相信我們的祖先在地府會很需要這些錢和吃的。回到中元節主題，有些鬼就不是那麼幸運了，因為他們大多數在世間時無親無故的，更不用說錢和食物了。這就是為什麼我們在中元節要給祂們吃的，以表示我們的敬意和替祂們做普渡。所以，基本上這是一個紀念先靈的日子。 |
| M: |
Sounds like Halloween back to where I from. Except the ones coming for” trick or treat” are not human. |
| |
聽起來滿像是我在老家時的萬聖節會做的事，除了上門「不給糖就搗蛋」的不是人類。 |
| L: |
Yeah…I guess you can put it in this way. Also, it is the same period that Buddhism people host the Ullambana ceremony that makes the day more important. |
| |
呃…這樣說也是沒錯啦。還有，其實這天也正好是佛教的信徒舉辦于蘭盆法會的日子，如此更彰顯出這天的重要。 |
| M: |
Would you tell me more about the day? |
| |
對於中元節能再說的更詳細點嗎？ |
| L: |
Sure. There are something more that you need to keep an eye on about this special period. We usually call September “Ghost month”; in this month, children and teenagers are strictly forbidden to play by the water. They might be pulled by drawn ghosts. It would be consider dangerous walking by walls during the night time. Most of ghosts are hiding in the wall and ready to make an ambush. |
| |
好啊，在這段期間有些事情你得注意。我們通常都叫九月是鬼月，在這個月份裡面，小朋友和青少年都會被極力禁止到水邊去玩，因為他們可能會被水鬼拉走。還有，晚上靠著牆壁走也是很危險的，大部分的鬼都躲在牆裡頭等著埋伏我們。 |
| M: |
those sneaky sons of a gun! |
| |
那些狡猾的傢伙！ |
| L: |
Except Pu Tu, we recite sutras in order to make them rest in peace. Moreover, people put lanterns on the water, in case those who died from drawing can’t find the way to land. |
| |
除了中元普渡以外喔，我們會念經文以讓這些靈魂得到安息。此外，人們會放水燈，以防那些溺死在水裡的鬼魂找不到上岸的路。 |
| M: |
Lanterns on water, interesting. |
| |
水燈啊，挺有趣的。 |
| L: |
We also hang red lanterns. Imagine them as beacons to food and pray cash which we prepare for these ghosts. Larger the lantern, wilder the illumination range, that means more ghosts are coming. Therefore, hosts of temples need to be careful about the size of their lanterns, in case they attract too many of them but food is not enough. |
| |
我們也會掛紅燈籠喔。你就想像那些是我們替鬼準備的跑道燈，領航祂們到放食物的地方。只要燈籠越大，照明範圍就越廣，也就是說會吸引更多鬼魂過來的意思，所以各地的廟方都會很注意這些燈籠的大小，不然太大的燈籠招來的太多的鬼，然而食物卻不夠祂們吃。 |
| M: |
That can’t be good. People can easily get raged when they are hungry, not to mention ghosts.
|
| |
那可不妙。人類光是肚子餓的時候就非常容易大發雷霆了，別說是鬼。 |
| L: |
Tell me about it. Speaking of food, what do you want for lunch today? Italian, Japanese or American ? |
| |
你才知道喔。說到食物，你今天中午要吃什麼？義大利料理，日本菜還是要美國餐廳？ |
| M: |
Anything besides ghost food. |
| |
除了鬼吃的我什麼都可以。 |
| L: |
Fair enough. |
| |
好吧。 |
：
