The Ghost Festival (Zhongyuan Pudu) is arguably the most important annual folk festival in Keelung City, with the main altar being the main venue. Originally built on Xinshi Street or Caowei Street, it was later moved to its current location in Zhongzheng Park. The traditional Chinese-style building is both grand and modern, and the three-story main altar overlooks the entire Keelung area. The lighting ceremony on the 13th day of the 7th lunar month further highlights the altar's brilliance, showcasing the festival's fervor.
The Keelung Ghost Festival has become the most important folk celebration in Keelung, and in recent years it has also become a well-known tourist attraction. In order to enable the public to fully understand the historical origins, rituals, and classic ritual implements of the Ghost Festival, and to provide teaching materials for school field trips and promote cultural and tourism exchanges between China and foreign countries, the "Ghost Festival Relics Museum" was planned and established.
The "Ghost Festival Cultural Relics Museum" primarily displays artifacts related to the Ghost Festival rituals, and presents the unique characteristics of the Ghost Festival through multimedia guided tours, a magic theater, and models of offerings. To strengthen the integration of culture, history, industry, and the Ghost Festival celebrations, the museum is divided into permanent and special exhibition areas. The permanent exhibition area focuses on the Ghost Festival rituals, introducing the Keelung Ghost Festival ceremony and its historical origins, while the special exhibition area is a flexible, open space that provides a place for interaction with the public, making the museum's exhibits more diverse.
Every year in the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the Keelung Ghost Festival activities always repeat a solemn rhythm that has lasted for centuries. From opening the shrine door, setting up the lantern pole, welcoming the lanterns, welcoming the water lanterns, releasing the water lanterns, the Zhong Kui dance, and the nationwide salvation movement in the streets and alleys from the first day of the month to the end of the month, it is the rhythmic climax of Keelung's annual festival activities.