Question on a Chinese custom/holiday?

Question

I recently saw a movie that talked about the Month of the Hungry Ghosts (Oben). It briefly touched on some of the customs of this special time of the year. I was curious as to what the customs were (since the movie, made in Singapore, expected the audience to already know the rules).

Some of the rules they did touch on were things like, don't sweep the ashes from the offerings, don't eat the food left out, don't sit in the front row of the traditional dancing (it's reserved for the dead) and don't turn if someone calls your name at night.

I was wondering what the actual customs were and if they differed depending on where you lived (like China, Japan, Tibet, etc).

Thank you.

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Festival

and

http://www.willkern.com/hungryghosts.html

I hope that these help