Why Can't Ghosts Be Called 'Ghosts' Directly in Taiwan? The Sad History Behind the Tradition of Calling Them 'Good Brothers'

Every lunar seventh month, many Taiwanese people have been told by their elders since childhood: don't touch the offering tables, don't whistle at night, and when talking about ghosts, it's best not to say the word 'ghost' repeatedly, but to politely call them 'good brothers.' Strangely, even though there is no blood relation and you don't even know who they are, why do you have to call them 'brothers'? This seemingly friendly and sometimes humorous term actually hides the very complex emotions that Taiwanese people have about death. On the one hand, it comes from a reverence for the unknown world, and on the other hand, it is connected to early immigrants crossing the sea, dying in foreign lands, and the large number of deceased who were not given proper funeral rites. In other words, the 'good brothers' in Taiwanese people's mouths were originally not some demons from horror stories, but rather a group of people who had no family to offer them incense after death. Who exactly are these 'good brothers'? Not all the deceased are called this. 'Good brothers' is not a nickname that appeared in the internet age. The Ministry of Education's 'Common Taiwanese Hokkien Dictionary' includes the term 'good brothers' (hó-hiann-tī), which, in addition to referring to close friends, also means 'lonely ghosts, wandering spirits.' The National Immigration Agency recently introduced Taiwan's Ghost Month culture and explained that 'good brothers' is a respectful and polite way to refer to ghosts. However, in traditional folk beliefs, 'ancestors' and 'good brothers' are not necessarily the same concept. Ancestors have names, families, and descendants who perform regular rituals; the objects of care during the Middle Ghost Festival are mostly those without descendants to worship, without fixed incense, and even unknown names and identities. The National Religious Information Network points out that the objects of salvation during the Middle Ghost Festival include 'lonely souls, lingering spirits,' and what is commonly referred to as lonely ghosts and wandering spirits is called 'good brothers' in folk beliefs. This difference may not be easily felt today, but in the past, when families and clans were the core of life, the meaning was completely different. If someone still has someone to worship after death, it means they still belong to a family; if no one even remembers their name and no one knows where they are buried, they truly become a person without a place to go. And in early Taiwan, such people were not few. Since the Qing Dynasty, large numbers of immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong crossed the sea to Taiwan to make a living. Looking back today, it is a 'history of reclamation,' but for those who were actually on the boat at the time, it was a journey where they did not know if they could arrive alive. The Ministry of Education's Taiwanese Hokkien Dictionary includes the proverb 'There are Tangshan (mainland Chinese) men, but no Tangshan women,' which reflects the historical background of the early ban on crossing to Taiwan, indicating that there were many single men among the early pioneers. The Kaohsiung Museum of History's 'Kaohsiung Small Stories' records a local explanation when introducing the culture of the Middle Ghost Festival: in the past, crossing the Taiwan Strait, known as the 'Black Water Ditch,' was very dangerous, and many people died at sea. Moreover, those who died in Taiwan in the early days were mostly male immigrants, so later generations called these deceased 'good brothers' and held rituals for them in the seventh lunar month. Even if they were lucky enough to land safely, the danger was not over. When discussing Taiwan's 'ghost worship' culture, Lin Mei-rong, an ethnologist at the Academia Sinica, pointed out that during the Qing Dynasty, Taiwan experienced many clan conflicts and political clashes, resulting in many deaths. Among them, many were single and had no descendants to worship, so local communities built collective graves and shrines, gradually forming a large number of rituals for lonely souls such as Wanying Gong. Thus, a very special problem began to appear on Taiwanese soil: there were many dead, but those who could remember their names were not necessarily still alive. Those who died in maritime disasters, clan conflicts, and accidents could eventually become lonely souls with no one to worship. This is also why Taiwan's Middle Ghost Festival has developed so grandly. The National Center for Traditional Arts points out that during the process of Han Chinese immigration to Taiwan, many 'childless, ownerless lonely souls' were produced. People, on the one hand, hoped to settle the deceased, and on the other hand, used the festival to commemorate their ancestors, so the Middle Ghost Festival is particularly valued in Taiwan. The famous 'Old Big Brother' in Keelung is a typical example. According to the records of the Anle District Office of Keelung City, the deceased souls worshipped in the local Old Big Brother Temple include those who died in early conflicts and those who, after crossing to Taiwan from the mainland, died in conflicts over land and irrigation water sources. Since 1855, the local community has held the Middle Ghost Festival in the seventh lunar month to comfort the deceased souls; Keelung also calls these lonely souls 'good brothers' or 'Old Big Brother.' Even earlier, traditional Chinese beliefs already had the concept of worshipping 'evil spirits,' that is, performing rituals for those who died unnaturally, were not buried, or were not worshipped, hoping that the spirits would have a place to rest. When the Keelung City Government organized local literature, it pointed out that the 'Qing Dynasty Tamsui Gazette' already recorded the establishment of 'evil altars' in the north to place and worship unclaimed remains, and even earlier related records can be seen in southern Taiwan. Therefore, the Middle Ghost Festival was not a custom suddenly invented by Taiwanese people. What is truly characteristic of Taiwan is that a highly immigrant, sea-crossing, and conflict-prone society has particularly developed the existing lonely soul worship culture. As for the 'cannot say ghost' during the Ghost Month, a more accurate saying should be: this belongs to a folk taboo on language, not a rigid rule that everyone in religion must follow. Traditional sayings believe that after the Ghost Gate opens in the seventh lunar month, lonely souls come to the world of the living to act. If you talk about, call, or even provoke them carelessly, you may attract their attention. Therefore, people speak more carefully, avoid calling 'ghost' directly, and use a more polite 'good brothers.' When introducing Ghost Month customs, the Kinmen County Government has recorded the folk saying 'You cannot say ghost during the Ghost Month because it will summon ghosts'; the National Immigration Agency explains 'good brothers' as a respectful and polite term. These are folk beliefs and language taboos, and there is no scientific evidence that saying a certain word will really summon ghosts. From a linguistic perspective, this is also very understandable. When people encounter things they cannot control or are even afraid of, they often do not say their names directly, but change them to a softer term. 'Lonely ghosts and wandering spirits' sound full of rejection, while 'good brothers' immediately brings the other party into human relationships. I don't know your name, and I don't know where you came from. But since you have no one to worship, I will prepare a meal for you. At least today, call you a brother. The truly sad part of 'good brothers' is that they were once ordinary people. This may also be the most interesting part of Taiwan's Middle Ghost Festival. Today, when talking about the Ghost Month, the most noticeable are the taboos of not blowing a whistle at night, not patting shoulders, and not going to the water's edge. However, if you remove those horror elements, the core that remains is very simple. Someone died, and no one remembers them. Therefore, the living prepare a set of chopsticks and a table of food for them, burn some paper money, and let those whose names have already disappeared have at least one chance a year to 'come back for a meal.' When introducing Taiwanese folk studies, the Academia Sinica once summarized this death culture as 'seeing off the deceased and comforting the living': ghost stories and the imagination of the afterlife actually reflect how the living understand death, loss, and collective memory. Therefore, the truly interesting part behind the three words 'good brothers' may never have been 'calling a ghost a brother, and the ghost won't harm you.' Rather, it is that Taiwanese people, over a long history, have arranged a new position for those who have no family, no descendants, and not even a name left behind. They are not our ancestors, and we don't know what relationship they have with us. But once a year, the table is still set for them. No name, just call them 'good brothers.' At least don't let a person, even after death, not have the right to be remembered.