Residents in Dazhou, a city in China’s Sichuan province, took to the banks of the Zhouhe River on Monday to burn religious offerings in a run up to the Zhongyuan festival, or the Hungry Ghost festival, which takes place during the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.
During this Buddhist and Taoist festival common in Asian countries, the dead are believed to reenter the world of the living. To welcome their deceased ancestors, incense is burned at doors of homes while fires and lanterns are lit, it’s believed, to direct the ghosts from the underworld.
ChinaFotoPress contributed reporting.