Why do Vietnamese people avoid buying gold during the "ghost month"?

Vietnamese people often avoid buying gold during the "ghost month".

In Western countries, Halloween is considered a ghost day, but in Eastern culture, the full moon of the seventh lunar month is considered the day of "ghosts".

According to folk beliefs, when people die, they become ghosts. If they do good things while alive, their ghosts will be reincarnated, but if they do evil, they will be sent to hell or live a miserable life on earth.

In the seventh lunar month, the King of Hell will order the gates to open for the souls to come to earth with humans. Therefore, the custom of worshiping “hungry souls” was born. Families hold ceremonies to worship “hungry souls” to avoid being disturbed by the souls and also to pray for good things to come to them.

During the "ghost month", people often avoid doing big things like buying a car, buying a house... and especially, they avoid buying gold.

Regarding this issue, Professor Tran Lam Bien said that the concept of abstaining from buying gold has only appeared in recent years and did not exist before.

According to the professor, pure gold is also called purple gold. Purple here means dead, and metal is metal.

“Usually people gild Buddha statues, and Buddha and Bodhisattva statues are usually in the Western Paradise. This month (the 7th lunar month) is associated with the other world, so people think buying gold is not beneficial,” said Professor Bien.

Professor Bien also said that Vietnamese people have very few taboos. The taboo on buying a house or a car is partly influenced by China, but not everything originates from China.

The Vietnamese people are influenced by China a lot, but they only accept the good influences. Moreover, China in the North has the yin element, Vietnam in the South has the yang element. Therefore, it is not correct to apply Northern culture to the South, and Yin to Yang.