The Qingming Festival
Key Words 1.清明节 the Qingming Festival 2.24 节气
the 24 seasonal division points 3.春耕播种
spring plowing and sowing 4.祭祖
to offer sacrifices to one’s ancestors 5.扫墓
to sweep the tombs (of the deceased) 6.寒食节
the Hanshi / Cold Food Festival 7.公墓
public cemeteries 8.在墓碑前祭拜
to bow before the memorial tablet 9.焚香 to burn incense 10.烧纸钱 to burn paper money 11.春游的习俗 the custom of Spring outings 12.放风筝
to fly kites (kite flying) 13.一串小灯笼 a string of little lanterns 14.植树，树苗 to plan trees, saplings 15.植树节 the Arbor Day 16.秋千 a swing 17.踏青 stepping the green 18.孝顺
(to practice) filial piety 19.健身 body-building 20.拔河 tug of war 21.斗鸡 rooster-fighting
The Qingming Festival
The Qingming Festival is one of the 24 seasonal division points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year.After the festival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases.It is the high time for spring plowing and sowing.But the Qingming Festival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work; it is more a festival of commemoration.
The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadne and happine.
This is the most important day of sacrifice.Both the Han and minority ethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors and sweep the tombs of the deceased.Also, they will not cook on this day and only cold food is served.
The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the Qingming Festival.As our ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming, they were later combined.
On each Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people who came to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices.Traffic on the way to the cemeteries becomes extremely jammed.The customs have been greatly simplified today.After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offer food, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense and paper money and bow before the memorial tablet. In contrast to the sadne of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoy hope of Spring on this day.The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and gra become green and nature is again lively.Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of Spring outings.At this time tourists are everywhere.
People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival.Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qingming Festival.Its uniquene lies in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night.A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called \"god\'s lanterns.\"
The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later.In the past, the Qingming Festival was called \"Arbor Day\".But since 1979, \"Arbor Day\" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregorian calendar.
Qingming Festival Activities
Swing
Swing is a kind of game utensils.Swinging is a sport that the player swings back and forth with a tread plate hung on a frame by long ropes.
The origin of swing can be traced back to some 100,000 years ago.Climbing trees or croing streams is the most primitive embryonic form of swinging.Later in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC to 476 years ago), the swing consisting of a tread plated hung on the frame by ropes was introduced into the Central Plains area.Since the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD), swinging had gradually became a folk activity performed at the Tomb Sweeping Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and other festivals until present day.Swinging can be categorized into the single swing, double swing, standing swing and sitting swing.Each village has its own master swinging player and sometimes competitions are held.The one swinging highest with the most beautiful movements will receive praise from neighbors.Swinging days are often good opportunities for young men and women to encounter and interact.Swing, as the folk traditional sport with a history of several thousand years still maintains its vitality nowadays.
Kite-flying
The custom of kite-flying prevails during the Tomb Sweeping Day (around April 5th).The bamboo crobow of the kite vibrates with a buzz as it rises aloft on the power of its tail.
Big kites can be as broad as about three metres square with a tail of six to ten metres.Most kites have a rectangular shape.The rest are patterned as crabs, centipedes, butterflies and dragonflies, or Chinese characters such as \"fortune\" or \"longevity\".All kites are constructed with fine craftsmanship.
When flown in the evening, they have lights attached to their tails and some have as many as three to five lights strung together. Stepping-the-green
\"Stepping-the-green\" refers to the spring-outgoing people talk about now.Qingming is in early March when it begins to turn warm, and everything is blooming.So it is just a good time to go out for a walk.And so Qingming is not just a blue time for remembrance, but also a green time for fun.
Tomb-sweeping
Tomb-sweeping is the main observance of the Qingming Festival.Tomb-sweeping is the concrete expreion of practicing filial piety, which has been emphasizing by the Chinese people since ancient times.Therefore, the Qingming Festival has been an important day for the Chinese since early times.Tomb-sweeping activities are usually done two days before Qingming or the ten days after.On the day of tomb sweeping, the descendants would clear the wild gra around the ancestor\'s tomb, clean the dust, and then present the food and fresh flowers.
Tomb Sweeping Day, also called \"Cold Food Day\", is the most important day for people to offer sacrifice to ancestors.It started from the Zhou Dynasty, with a history of over 2500 years.Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in China, indicating the coming of late spring, thus the best plowing and growing time, while \"Cold Food Day\" is a day when folks sweep the ancestors\' tombs and eat cold food.Qingming was adjacent to Cold Food Day, so later on they gradually became one festival, and thus \"Cold Food\" became another name for Qingming, and dusting the tomb and eating cold food turned into the customs of Qing Ming.Qing Ming has evolved into a culture-rich and meaning-deep remembrance day.
Since people with weak constitutions might get hurt by eating cold raw food on Qingming, when the weather is still cold, various activities were invented for body-building, like stepping-the-green outgoing, swing, Chinese football (蹴鞠cù jū), polo, willow-planting, tug-of-war, and rooster-fighting, etc.
明是我国的二十四节气之一。由于二十四节气比较客观地反映了一年四季气温、降雨、物候等方面的变化，所以古代劳动人民用它安排农事活动。但是，清明作为节日，与纯粹的节气又有所不同。节气是我国物候变化、时令顺序的标志，而节日则包含着一定的风俗活动和某种纪念意义。因此，这个节日中既有祭扫新坟生别死离的悲酸泪，又有踏青游玩的欢笑声，是一个富有特色的节日。
清明节是我国传统节日，也是最重要的祭祀节日，是祭祖和扫墓的日子。扫墓俗称上坟，祭祀死者的一种活动。汉族和一些少数民族大多都是在清明节扫墓。由于清明与寒食的日子接近，而寒食是民间禁火扫墓的日子，渐渐的，寒食与清明就合二为一了，而寒食既成为清明的别称，也变成为清明时节的一个习俗，清明之日不动烟火，只吃凉的食品。
按照旧的习俗，扫墓时，人们要携带酒食果品、纸钱等物品到墓地，将食物供祭在亲人墓前，再将纸钱焚化，为坟墓培上新土，折几枝嫩绿的新枝插在坟上，然后叩头行礼祭拜，最后吃掉酒食回家。 与清明节扫墓的悲哀相反，人们在这个春光明媚的日子里，也一样是可以享受生活的。
放风筝也是清明时节人们所喜爱的活动。每逢清明时节，人们不仅白天放，夜间也放。夜里在风筝下或风稳拉线上挂上一串串彩色的小灯笼，象闪烁的明星，被称为“神灯”。
清明前后，春阳照临，春阳照临，春雨飞洒，种植树苗成活率高，成长快。因此，自古以来，我国就有清明植树的习惯。有人还把清明节叫作“植树节”。植树风俗一直流传至今。1979年，人大常委会规定，每年三月十二日为我国植树节。这对动员全国各族人民积极开展绿化祖国活动，有着十分重要的意义。
