The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day

It is said that Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ceremony of "tomb sacrifice" by ancient emperors and generals, and later the people followed suit, and it was a fixed custom of the Chinese nation to worship ancestors and sweep graves on this day. Through historical development, Tomb-Sweeping Day has merged the customs of Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and mixed many kinds of folk customs into one, which has extremely rich cultural connotations.

Seven customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day

1. Family Festival:

Before breakfast in Tomb-Sweeping Day that morning, every family arranged three sacrificial offerings, and then invited the ancestral incense burner tablet, and then burned incense, knelt three times and knocked nine times and burned paper money. This is called the "family festival" of hipsters.

Qingming Festival:

"Qingming Festival" is one of the main sacrifices in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and it is also a famous food in Chaoshan. It is mainly made of glutinous rice, wormwood or rat weed and red bean stuffing. Because Qingming Festival has been steamed before ancestor worship, it can be eaten cold or stored for a long time.

3. Grave-sweeping:

Except those who are jealous of celebrating the New Year and mourning, the whole family of hipsters, old and young, will go up the mountain to sweep the grave together after the sacrifice at home. The main links of grave-sweeping include weeding, cleaning, hanging paper, coloring tombstones and kneeling for nine times. Because the local government has repeatedly banned fires, many people have omitted the links of burning incense and paper money this year.

Fourth, hiking:

People who have no new graves in recent years will not feel too heavy when they go up the mountain to sweep the graves, especially for children, going up the mountain is a relaxing outing, and everyone can also get in touch with many plants and wild fruits that they don't usually know.

5. Picnic:

Most of the tombs of hipsters are in the deep mountains, so it is almost impossible to finish all the ancestor sweeping activities before noon. At noon, many people will bring dry food and cold food to satisfy their hunger, but some families will have a picnic on the spot in front of their ancestors' graves. The water in the mountain stream is sweet and the firewood is delicious. Picnic is really a rare life experience.

Sixth, inserting willows

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the time for willows to sprout and smoke green, and there are folk customs of folding willows, wearing willows and inserting willows. When people go for an outing, they conveniently break off some wicker branches, which can be played with in their hands, woven into hats and worn on their heads, or taken home and inserted on the lintels and eaves. The custom of inserting willows is related to avoiding epidemics.

VII. Flying kites

This is also a favorite activity in Qingming Festival. During the Qingming Festival, people not only put it on during the day, but also at night. At night, a string of small colored lanterns is hung under a kite or on a wind-stable stay line, like a flashing star, which is called a "magic lamp". In the past, some people put kites in the blue sky, then cut the strings and let the breeze send them to the ends of the earth. It is said that this can eliminate diseases and disasters and bring good luck to themselves.