Introduction to Qingming Festival:
Qingming Festival is one of the important "Eight Festivals" in China. It usually falls around April 5 in the Gregorian calendar. The festival lasts for 10 years. There are two sayings: 8 days before and after the 10th day and 10 days before and after the 10th day. These 20 days are all Qingming Festival. Qingming Festival originally refers to the fifteen days after the Spring Equinox. In 1935, the government of the Republic of China designated April 5 as the national holiday Qingming Festival, also known as the National Grave Sweeping Day. Qingming Festival falls at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, which is the 108th day after the winter solstice. It is a traditional Chinese festival and one of the most important sacrificial festivals. It is a day for ancestor worship and tomb sweeping. The traditional Qingming Festival of the Chinese Han people began around the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years.
Qingming Festival customs:
Sweeping tombs and worshiping ancestors
Qingming Festival is a day to remember the ancestors. People go to their ancestors’ tombs to remove weeds and place tributes. Offer incense, pray, and present flowers to express gratitude and remembrance of the ancestors. People pay homage to their ancestors and remember the martyrs through the Tomb-Sweeping Festival, which is a link for the Chinese nation to recognize their ancestors and return to their clan. They can get to know their ancestors, recognize their own shortcomings, correct themselves, and lead future generations. Understand the value of life, remove the dry branches and dead leaves left by our ancestors, and retain the new shoots that can be used for reference. It is a day of clear correction that promotes positive energy from generation to generation.
Outing
Spring returns to the earth during the Qingming Festival, and people have fun in the countryside after sweeping tombs. There are also friends who specially go to nature during the Qingming Festival to feel the countryside atmosphere and go hiking in the countryside. It is also called spring outing. In ancient times, it was called exploring spring and seeking spring. Its meaning is to step on the green grass, play in the countryside and enjoy the spring scenery.
Putting willows
There are proverbs such as "If you don't wear willows during the Qingming Festival, your beauty will turn into a bright head" and "If you don't wear willows during the Qingming Festival, you will turn into a yellow dog after death", which shows that cutting willows during the Qingming Festival was an old tradition. Very common custom. Willow branches have the function of warding off evil spirits. Inserting willows and wearing willows is not only a decoration, but also has the effect of praying for blessings and warding off evil spirits. People have the custom of breaking willows, wearing willows, and inserting willows when they go outing. It is said to commemorate Shennong who invented various agricultural production tools and "tasted hundreds of herbs"; it is also said that the willow tree that Jie Zitui was holding when he died was later resurrected. Jin Wengong named it Qingming Willow and folded the willow into a circle and wore it on his head. . It expresses people's joy and romantic feelings about the return of spring to the earth.
Flying a kite
The ancients believed that when a person got sick, they could write or draw their condition on a tied kite, and then pull the strings and cut them when it flew high into the sky. Then the disease and disaster would follow the kite. Fly away together. Flying kites is a favorite activity for people, and later it developed into an outing entertainment activity.
These are activities that are still commonly retained today. In addition, there are activities such as willow shooting, Cuju, swing, lead hook, silkworm flower party, cockfighting and other activities.
Origin of Qingming Festival:
It is said that Qingming Festival began with the ritual of "grave sacrifice" for emperors, generals and prime ministers in ancient times. It has become a fixed custom of the Chinese nation. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of worshiping and sweeping tombs was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The correct date of the Cold Food Festival is one hundred and five days after the winter solstice, around the time of Tomb Sweeping Day. Because the two dates are similar, Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival are combined into one day. Qingming Festival combines Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival. The Qingming Festival is also related to the legend of Jie Zitui. In addition, the Qingming Festival among the twenty-four solar terms is also one of the origins of the Qingming Festival.
Taboos related to Qingming Festival
Tomb-sweeping activities during Qingming Festival are not as early as possible. Generally, tomb-sweeping activities are completed from 7 am to 4 pm. At this time, Yang Qi subsides and Yin Qi gradually grows. People with low fortune may easily attract evil spirits if they stay in the cemetery for a long time.
Pregnant women should generally avoid grave sweeping activities, and it is best not to participate after 3 p.m. Before setting out to sweep the tomb in the morning, you should check whether there is a dark complexion on your forehead. If so, it is best to avoid it that day. If you must go, it is also best to wear some evil-proof items or jade.
It is easy to dream about deceased ancestors before and after the Qingming Festival, which clearly tells you that it is time to visit their graves. It will need to be more grand then. Dress formally and neatly. Don't play around or talk casually in the cemetery. Be respectful to the deceased and don't comment on other cemeteries.
After people with weak horoscopes and poor physical constitution come back from sweeping graves, they should try to walk in crowded places or get more sunshine, and do not take the soil under their feet home with them.
If you cannot go back to your hometown to visit the tomb on the mountain during the Qingming Festival, you should place offerings toward your hometown on your balcony or living room, burn three sticks of incense, and remember them in your heart.