Tomb-Sweeping Day Customs in Northeast Hubei Province
It rains in succession during the Qingming Festival. Pedestrians on the road offered sacrifices to the dead. People are in different places, and their hometown is bright.
In retrospect, the past remains the same, year after year. Pray for our ancestors, and bless China with good weather.
My hometown is in a small town in Dawu County, Hubei Province. It is a well-known but well-known town called Xuanhuadian Town, with a long history and mountains and rivers, which is often baptized by war. Poverty is self-evident, but some folk customs and traditions are well preserved there. Qingming is no exception.
I remember when I was young, maybe not. Before high school, because I didn't leave my hometown, I worshipped my ancestors every year. In our place, ancestor worship is also called going to the grave. You can't have breakfast before going to the grave, and the day before Qingming Festival, all children and adults who go to the grave should take a bath to show their sincerity in paying homage. And women have no right to worship their ancestors, unless they are very young girls. Usually at six o'clock in the morning, sometimes earlier, around five o'clock, grandpa and dad wake us up. You must bring some things to worship your ancestors, such as firecrackers, shovels, hoes, Ruanzi (I don't know how to spell those two words, it's probably the sound, it's a tool made of bamboo for loading soil) and yellow paper. It is worth noting that firecrackers are exquisite, and fireworks are generally not allowed, otherwise people will be your ancestral graves. Although I don't know what it means, I think it is a great insult; Generally, we bring small guns (we call them small firecrackers there), combined guns, and a kind of guns. I don't know its scientific name, but we call it "Dongda" there (I don't know if it's these two words, so I call it because its voice rang twice). At dawn, the old man and the children belong to the same clan. The old man led the team and set out together. Children are always scrambling to move forward with shovels and hoes, and they feel comfortable walking in front. The adults followed, holding firecrackers and paper in their hands and carrying Ruanzi with a pole. A large group of people, talking about the noise, gave an inspiration to the empty vilen and the silent dawn in the morning, as if to tell the world that this day is about to dawn. Please get up and welcome a beautiful and noisy day. Sometimes, it seems that they often meet acquaintances on the road. They also go to the grave, and the old man will greet them for a while, recount the past and say that XXX died again, and sigh for a while.
When we get to the cemetery, it's not a very formal cemetery. It's all my old fields. When the old man died, he told me that there was a place with good feng shui, and you buried me there after he died. Later, after the death of the old man's wife, son, daughter-in-law and others, he (she) was buried there and gradually became a cemetery. But this is not the only thing. For example, my family, after my grandfather's grandfather moved away, our branch was far away from the old cemetery. Later, someone died, not buried in the old cemetery, but in the place he liked before his death (although some old people insisted on returning to the old cemetery). Graveyards are relatively remote places, and no one dares to come, so they are all mixed with weeds. Adults pull weeds first, then repair the grave with shovels and hoes and replace it with new soil. Sometimes there isn't much soil nearby, so they just pick the soft ones to dig some soil. This tomb is triangular. Put some yellow paper on the corners of the triangle and turn the tomb cap upside down. The grave cap is a pile of earth, but it is exquisite. It is roughly conical, with a diameter of about 20 cm and a height of about 10 cm. There must be grass under it. If it is grass, it seems to correspond to a saying that grass is on the grave, which seems to be a compliment to us, but I don't know what it means. When it looks like that, it begins to worship, starting with the sacrifice of the deceased elders. Some old people take the lead in kowtowing, and then kowtow to their ancestors one by one according to their age. When kowtowing, you must burn paper in front of the grave, and the paper can't be destroyed until everyone has finished worshipping, so you must take turns to look at the grave. Set off firecrackers together at the same time. As for the firecrackers that are still ringing after the memorial, the memorial is not over yet, and there is no requirement for those. In turn, pay homage to all the dead. However, if they are younger or younger than them, they can't worship because they can't confuse their generations.
When you come home after the sacrifice, you must remember to put willows in front of every door of your house. It is said that it started with meson push. No one seems to know what it is, but it has been circulating anyway. When you get home, you can have breakfast after inserting the willows. But it's not over yet. After breakfast, I will go to worship the ancestral graves, which is said to be ancestor worship. Although there are some kindred people nearby, you should bring the zongzi, shovel and firecrackers mentioned above to show your sincerity. The rules are the same. Usually the people there will come from afar to have lunch with their families. Whether they know it or not, as long as they worship their ancestors, they will definitely have food. Because this is a local custom, many things are expressed by local proverbs. Please forgive me if you don't understand.