Qingming Festival

Qingming Festival

Qingming Festival usually falls on April the 5th every year. Besides being a traditional festival in China, it is also the fifth one (Qingming, or Clear and Bright) of the 24 solar terms. Rituals and customs on the day of Qingming centered around tomb sweeping, paying tribute to ancestors and outings, which reflect Chinese people's perception of nature and life.

Ancestor worship and spring sacrificial ceremonies in prehistory times gave birth to the Qingming Festival, and over time, Qingming customs have grown richer, including tomb sweeping and ancestor worshiping, spring outings, forbidding fire and eating cold foods, etc. Traditionally, people will bring sacrifices such as drinks, food and joss papers (spirit monies) to the grave of their deceased relatives, offer the food, burn the joss papers, earth up the tomb, stick young willow branches on the graveyard, and kowtow to pay tribute to their ancestors. Qingming, as the most significant ancestor-worship festival for the Chinese people, is an important cultural inheritance. It embodies the Chinese people's respect for the ancestors and their solemn attitudes toward death, as part of China's cultural traditions. All these function as a way of the emotional communication of the Chinese people.

清明節

清明節在公歷4月5日前后，是二十四節氣中的第五個節氣，也是中國傳統節日，以掃墓祭祖和踏青郊游為主要禮俗主題，兼具自然與人文內涵。

清明節源自上古時期的祖先信仰和春祭習俗，逐漸形成內涵豐富的清明節禮俗，包括掃墓祭祖、郊游踏青、禁火冷食等。按照傳統習俗，人們在清明節攜帶酒食果品、紙錢等物品來到已故親人的墓地，供祭食物、燒掉紙錢，為墓地培上新土、插上嫩柳，并叩頭行禮祭拜。清明節自古傳承、延續至今，是中華民族最隆重的祭祖大節，體現了中華民族禮敬祖先、慎終追遠的文化傳統，成為維系和促進中華兒女情感交流的重要紐帶。