PETALING JAYA, Aug 9 (Sin Chew Daily) — Various hungry ghost festival organizers are switching to virtual celebrations due to the strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) imposed to curb COVID-19.

The National Unity Department released the SOPs for places of worship for non-Muslims that only allowed 12 members of committee to carry out prayers from August 8 to September 6 under the National Recovery Plan.

No devotees are allowed in places of worship.

This is the second year when major hungry ghost festival rituals are unable to take place.

Kow Cheong Wei, president of the Federation of Chinese Associations in Puchong, said judging from the current situation, hungry ghost festivals usually organized in conjunction with the hungry ghost month would not be held this year.

There are 21 hungry ghost festival organizers under the federation in Puchong.

Majority of them have decided to skip organizing the festivals this year. They did not organize festivals for last year too.

Some are keen to switch the festival to be a virtual event.

Ling Fa Gong, a temple located at Puchong Industrial Area, will be conducting a virtual festival this year.

Temple chairman Ye Tian Fu said the temple would be complying with the SOPs for the 12 committee members of the temple to carry out the prayers.

The temple will be recording the prayer sessions so that members of the public are able to participate via Zoom.

"This is to ensure people's health and safety will not be compromised," he said.

The Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month which falls on Aug 22 this year.

The seventh lunar month is also known as the month the Chinese believe the ghosts are let out of hell.

Chinese will be offering the roaming spirits food by praying at the roadside. Stages are erected by the roadside with live performances to entertain the ghosts at night.

The first row of seats are left empty for the ghosts.

It is believed that the Chinese pay tribute to the unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls will not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune.