Qingming
History of Qingming
The Qingming Festival, with a history spanning more than 2000 years, began as ancestral worshipping rites during spring in the Zhou Dynasty. This ancient festival continues to symbolize veneration for ancestors and their enduring influence in Chinese culture.
During the Zhou Dynasty, emperors conducted sacrificial ceremonies as part of the Qingming Festival rituals, seeking blessings for the nation. These ceremonies aimed to invoke prosperity, peace, and abundant harvests in the upcoming year by paying homage to their ancestors.
How is Qingming celebrated?
At home
In preparation for Qingming Festival, it is customary to meticulously tidy both the household and the ancestral altar. Observers of the festival dress in clean attire and proceed to perform rites including the lighting of incense, paying respects to ancestors, and reciting prayers.
At grave
Once a week of burning incense concludes, families have a tradition of converting the remaining ashes into symbolic gold, seeking blessings and good fortune.
When there are multiple incense bowls, each should be ignited with incense, and offerings arranged on the altar are meant to be shared among participants. A significant aspect of the commemoration involves cleaning and clearing grave sites by removing weeds and wild plants, followed by placing offerings for Qingming.
Participants customarily assemble an offering tray featuring a variety of dishes like sticky rice, boiled chicken, sausages, spring rolls, as well as fruits, fresh flowers, betel and areca leaves, and symbolic votive papers to honor their ancestors during Qingming Festival.
Following the worship ritual, when the incense burns down to about two-thirds, expressions of gratitude are made, and the remaining ashes are transformed into gold. This act symbolizes the seeking of blessings before returning home to continue worshiping household gods and ancestors.
In Buddhist households, it's customary to prepare a vegetarian offering tray as part of their rituals and observances.
Meaning of Thanh Minh
Thanh Minh, though not as grand as Tet, holds immense significance as a revered occasion deeply ingrained in the Vietnamese consciousness, emphasizing the ethical responsibility of honoring ancestors and forebears.
The observance of Thanh Minh embodies the virtue of filial piety and gratitude, providing a collective moment for individuals to pay respects, express gratitude, and reciprocate some of the debts owed to their ancestors.
Qingming, the fifth segment in the "twenty-four elements," marks an annual tradition in Eastern cultures occurring 45 days post the Spring Festival. It symbolizes clarity and brightness as the spring equinox concludes, signifying the arrival of clear, pristine weather.
What days are Thanh Minh?
According to convention, Tiet Thanh Minh is the period of time starting around April 4 or 5 at the end of the spring equinox and ending around April 20 or 21 of the solar calendar.
This year, Thanh Minh Festival begins on April 5 (on the 17th day of the second lunar month, At Mui year) and lasts until May 5 of the solar calendar (on the 17th day of the third lunar month).