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QINGMING FESTIVAL - Coggle Diagram
QINGMING FESTIVAL
How did the Qingming Festival originate?
Early on, Hanshi Festival was celebrated in winter and could last up to one month in some places.
This tradition of going without fire, and thus eating cold food, spread through surrounding regions and grew in popularity.
When it was discovered that eating cold food for an entire month in the dead of winter was causing multiple people to die each year => moved the festival from winter to spring.
The Qingming Festival grew out of an ancient Chinese festival.
Over time, its traditions were gradually conflated with those of Qingming Festival.
What do people do during Qingming Festival?
Spring Outings
After paying respect to the ancestors by cleaning their tombs, many people will then spend some time outdoors enjoying nature while participating in spring outings.
Since Qingming Festival falls in early spring every year, it usually coincides with some of the first warm days of the year.
People whose ancestors are buried in the city or those who live in cities and have not had time to travel back to the countryside to visit their ancestors’ graves will often head to a park or other place where they can spend time in nature.
Leave Offerings to Ancestors
Once the graves are cleared, offerings are usually placed at the foot of the burial mounds or on the semi-circle of cement in front of those graves that have been cemented over.
What is left as an offering varies by family and by region.
Might consist of a bowl of rice with chopsticks, a plastic cup of the strong Chinese liquor known as 白酒 (báijiǔ), and a chicken head or other piece of meat.
Once the offering has been placed in front of the tomb, family members set off firecrackers and burn incense and paper hell money.
Tomb-Sweeping
Tending to the tombs of one’s ancestors is a very important.
Burial practices in the Chinese countryside are very different from those in the cities, the process of cleaning the ancestors’ tombs is different depending on where one lives.
The practice is closely connected with Chinese traditions related to filial piety and ancestor worship.
In the countryside, most are not located in a graveyard, they are often located in an auspicious place with good 风水 fēng shui, usually on the side of a hill or a mountain.
Is seen as a way to show respect to one’s ancestors.
Burial plots in the cities are usually quite compact. There are no mounds and often, no grass at all.
Kite Flying
People often fly kites in the evening during Qingming Festival.
Traditionally, people believe that they can increase their chances of having good luck by cutting the strings of their kites and letting them float away instead of reeling them back in.
Kites released in this way are thought to carry people’s misfortunes away with them into the sky.
What do people eat during Qingming Festival?
Because of the holiday’s early associations with the Cold Food Festival, people traditionally only eat cold food during Qingming Festival.
While celebrating the holiday in southern China, people usually eat 青团 (qīngtuán), which are round, sticky and slightly sweet green dumplings made with glutinous rice and either barley grass or Chinese mugwort.
In both the north and the south of the country, it is also popular to eat 馓子 (sǎnzi). These are deep fried salty dough twists which are cooked in advance and allowed to cool and dry.
Keeping the Tradition Going
Qingming Festival is also a time to celebrate the arrival of spring, it’s possible to celebrate it even if you can’t visit your relatives’ tombs.
Consider marking the holiday by sampling some traditional Qingming foods like 青团 (qīngtuán) or taking advantage of the warm weather to head to the countryside to enjoy nature.
Qingming Festival remains an important holiday in China, providing many people with the chance to pay their respects to their ancestors and spend time enjoying the great outdoors.