28 AUGUST 2015 - BANGKOK, THAILAND: A woman makes merit by pouring oil into a lamp at Wat Mangkon Kamalawat in the Chinatown section of Bangkok on Hungry Ghost Day. Wat Mangkon Kamalawat is the largest Mahayana Buddhist temple in Chinatown. Mahayana Buddhists believe that the gates of hell are opened on the full moon of the seventh lunar month of the Chinese calendar, and the spirits of hungry ghosts allowed to roam the earth. These ghosts need food and merit to find their way back to their own. People help by offering food, paper money, candles and flowers, making merit of their own in the process. Hungry Ghost Day is observed in communities with a large ethnic Chinese population, like Bangkok's Chinatown.ese population, like Bangkok's Chinatown. PHOTO BY JACK KURTZ