‘Don’t kill it, it’s grandpa’: Hong Kong woman says mother believes visiting moths are spirits of dead relatives during Ching Ming Festival
- A woman posted on a Hong Kong online forum about her mother driving her crazy by letting insects into their home during the Ching Ming Festival
- The belief that the spirits of recently deceased relatives return in the form of moths or butterflies is common in Chinese folk culture
A Hong Kong woman has ranted online about her mother driving her crazy by letting “giant” moths fly around their apartment in the belief they are the spirits of deceased relatives. The post, reported by HK01, has been viewed by more than 10,000 people.
The woman, who goes by the user name @Taodangjen, posted her frustrations on the Hong Kong Discuss Forum on March 22, two weeks before the Ching Ming Festival, also known as tomb-sweeping day, and complained that her mother was “so superstitious”.
She said she and her sister were scared of flying insects, but their mother banned them from killing the “giant” moths, claiming they were their late grandfather visiting them.
Her mother worried that if they killed the moths, they would be shamed while sweeping the tombs of their ancestors during the Ching Ming Festival.
Despite being “almost driven crazy” by the flying insects, the woman and her sister said they had to put up with the moths all night before they finally flew away.
“If we find insects flying into our home every day, do we assume all of them are the spirits of my grandpa?” the woman asked rhetorically in her post.