中元節夜話：你說的「鬼」是什麼鬼？

製作：阿然

手繪：楊帥

文案：向前

翻譯：馮斯嘉

農曆七月十五是中國的中元節，也就是民間俗稱的「鬼節」。

The 15th day of the 7th Chinese lunar month is Chinese Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival.

「鬼節」是個重要的日子，它與除夕、清明節、重陽節並列中國傳統的祭祖大節。

The Hungry Ghost Festival is an important day, it is together with New Year s Eve, Tomb-sweeping Day, Chongyang Festival as Chinese traditional worship festival.

與西方的「鬼節」——萬聖節那天，人們喬裝打扮、舉辦派對的狂歡景象不同，在中國的「鬼節」這一天，人們放河燈、焚紙錠，祭祀祖先，肅穆莊嚴。

Different with the western "Ghost Festival" -- Halloween, in which day people dress up and hold party, however in China, people put lanterns, burning paper, worship ancestor in a solemn atmosphere.

其實，不止東西方過「鬼節」的風俗不同，就連「中國鬼」和「西方鬼」也根本不是同一個「物種」。

In fact, not only the west customs and Chinese customs in Ghost Festival are different, even the "Chinese ghost" and "Western ghost" are not same.

丨中國的鬼/Chinese Ghost

「中國鬼」的來源可以從《禮記》里找到：「大凡生於天地之間者皆曰命。其萬物死皆曰折。人死曰鬼。」

"Chinese ghost" can be found in the Book of Rites: " Generally speaking, all born between heaven and earth were said to have their allotted times; the death of all creatures is spoken of as their dissolution; but man when dead is said to be in the ghostly state."

漢字「鬼」雖是象形字，但它並不是對鬼的外貌進行了簡化。它記錄的其實是：祭祀儀式上，巫師戴著恐怖面具扮鬼的樣子。有甲骨文為證。

Although the Chinese character "ghost" is a pictographic character, it does not simplify the appearance of ghosts. It is recorded in the ritual that witches wearing scary masks and loading with ghosts. The evidence is inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells.

除了人喜歡「裝神弄鬼」，中國的鬼也非常熱衷於扮人。清代文學家蒲松齡先生就在《聊齋志異》描繪了許多光怪陸離、性格各異的鬼，裝扮成人的樣子，有許多還非常的可愛呢。

Not only human loves to mystify deliberately, Chinese ghosts are also interested in pretending to be human. Pu Songling, a Qing Dynasty writer, depicted many different characters in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, in which ghosts are lustrous and dazzling. They dressed like human, some of whom even very cute.

丨西方的鬼/Western Ghost

西方古代相信人擁有靈魂，將其寫作 Gast。中古英語中，拼寫改為 Gost。後來又在現代英語中變為 Ghost。

In ancient times, western people believed that people have soul and wrote it as 「Gast」. In Middle English, the spelling was changed to 「Gost」. Later, it became 「Ghost」 in modern English.

Ghost ，原本泛指活人或死人的靈魂，相當於來自拉丁語的 Spirit（精神）。直到14世紀時，它的詞義才變成專指「死人的靈魂」，即「鬼魂、幽靈」。

Ghost originally referring to the soul of the living or dead, is equivalent to the word 「Spirit」 from Latin. Until 14th Century, it refers to "the soul of the dead", "ghost".

不過， Holy Ghost（聖靈）一詞中的Ghost依然保留了原意。英皇欽定本《聖經》中的 Holy Spirit都寫作 Holy Ghost。在一些西方的藝術作品中，Holy Ghost會以鴿子或火焰的形象出現。

However, the word "Ghost" still retains the original meaning in Holy Ghost. Holy Spirit is always spelled as Holy Ghost in King James Version of the Bible. In some western art works, Holy Ghost will appear in the form of a dove or flame.

至於被中國人翻譯成「吸血鬼」（Vampire）、「魔鬼」（Demon）、「膽小鬼」（Coward）的眾「小鬼」們，它們和 Ghost 其實沒有半毛錢關係！

As for the Chinese translation of "Vampire", "Demon" and "Coward" and other "little devils", they have no relation to Ghost in fact!

不過，有吸血鬼、魔鬼元素的西方故事確實和中國源遠流長的神怪傳說有得一拼！

However, the vampire or the devil elements of Western story are indeed to be on a par with Chinese ancient gods and spirits!

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