You should keep your shrines active and full, praying often and maintaining nearby offerings of snacks, fruit and flowers. You should light off fireworks. And, you should definitely burn lots of (fake) paper money in small metal basins. The money, once it is burnt, will go to your ancestors! It will either improve their karma, or be money they can spend in the underworld.
Unfortunately, the tradition of burning money means that the air quality here can often be very hazy during Ghost Month and make you cough a lot!
It is believed that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏王菩薩), one of four major deities of Buddhism in East Asia, opens the gates of the Underworld to release the dead to visit their family for one month each year: Ghost Month. However, ghosts with no families to visit nor honor them are called "hungry ghosts." They are forever hungry, with very thin necks and swollen bellies. Because of both these hungry ghosts, and ghosts who do have families, there is a lot of dark energy in the air during Ghost Month. So, you have to be careful!
It is connected to the common emphasis on filial piety (loving, respecting, caring and honoring your family and ancestors) in East Asia. Filial piety comes from Confucianism, the philosophy that comes from Confucious. Ghost Month honors the hungry ghosts, your ancestors and any family members (or friends!) who have recently died. Ghost Month is also celebrated in nearby China.
