When I was in Taiping on a school trip to the zoo, my students drew my attention to a big bonfire by the side of one of the roads in that town. They knew that it was a prayer ceremony and asked me what it was. I told them that the paper being burnt was offering to the drifting and vagabond spirits during the seventh lunar month. Usually some families or businesses would band together to hold a prayer ceremony (called Poh Toh) from the 14th lunar day onwards for these lost souls in the hope of helping them to ascend from oblivion to heaven. It starts with a series of rituals where monks chant (sometimes for a few days) and offering different kinds of sacrifices. This type of worship will continue until the last day of the 7th lunar month. On the first day of the eighth lunar month the doors of Hades are closed, symbolizing the ghosts' return to the underworld, and the festival ends for another year.