The Qingming Festival (simplified
Chinese: 清明节; pinyin: Qīngmíng Jié),
Pure Brightness Festival or Clear Bright Festival, Ancestors
Day or Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional
Chinese festival on the 104th day after the winter solstice
(or the 15th day from the Spring Equinox),
usually occurring around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar (see Chinese calendar).
Astronomically it is also a solar term
(See Qingming). The Qingming
festival falls on the first day of the fifth solar term, named Qingming. Its
name denotes a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of
springtime (踏青 Tàqīng, "treading on the greenery")
and tend to the graves of departed ones.
Origin
Qingming Festival is when Chinese
people visit the graves or burial grounds of their ancestors. Traditionally,
people brought a whole rooster with them to the graves visited but the occasion
has become less formal over time. The festival originated from Hanshi Day (寒食节, literally, Day with
cold food only), a memorial day for Jie Zitui (介子推). Jie Zitui died in 636
BC in the Spring and
Autumn Period. He was one of many followers of Duke Wen of Jin before he
became a duke. Once, during Wen's 19 years of exile, they had no food and Jie
prepared some meat soup for Wen. Wen enjoyed it a lot and wondered where Jie
had obtained the soup. It turned out Jie had cut a piece of meat from his own
thigh to make the soup. Wen was so moved he promised to reward him one day.
However, Jie was not the type of person who sought rewards. Instead, he just
wanted to help Wen to return to Jin to become
king. Once Wen became duke, Jie resigned and stayed away from him. Duke Wen
rewarded the people who helped him in the decades, but for some reason he
forgot to reward Jie, who by then had moved into the forest with his mother.
Duke Wen went to the forest, but could not find Jie. Heeding suggestions from
his officials, Duke Wen ordered men to set the forest on fire to force out Jie.
However, Jie died in the fire. Feeling remorseful, Duke Wen ordered three days
without fire to honour Jie's memory. The county where Jie died is still called Jiexiu (介休, literally "the place Jie rests forever").
Qingming has a tradition stretching
back more than 2,500 years.[2] Its origin is credited to the Tang Emperor Xuanzong
in 732. Wealthy citizens in China were reportedly holding too many extravagant
and ostentatiously expensive ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. Emperor
Xuanzong, seeking to curb this practice, declared that respects could be
formally paid at ancestors' graves only on Qingming.[3] The observance of Qingming found a
firm place in Chinese culture and continued since Ancient China.
Celebration
The Qingming Festival is an
opportunity for celebrants to remember and honour their ancestors at grave sites. Young and old
pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine,
chopsticks, joss paper
accessories, and/or libations to the ancestors. The rites have a long tradition
in Asia, especially among farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them
on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They
believe that willow branches help ward off the evil spirit that wanders on
Qingming.
On Qingming people go on family
outings, start the spring plowing, sing, and dance. Qingming is also the time
when young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is to fly kites
in the shapes of animals or characters from Chinese opera.[3] Another common practice
is to carry flowers instead of burning paper, incense or firecrackers.[2]
The holiday is often marked by people
paying respects to those who died in events considered sensitive in China. The April Fifth
Movement and the Tiananmen Incident were
major events on Qingming that took place in the history of the
People's Republic of China. When Premier Zhou Enlai died in 1976,
thousands visited him during the festival to pay their respects. Many also pay
respects to victims of the Tiananmen Square
protests in 1989 and the graves of Zhao Ziyang and Yang Jia in areas where
the right of free expression is generally recognized, as in Hong Kong. In most
areas of China observance of sensitive events are suppressed and all public
mention of such events is taboo.[2] In Taiwan
this national holiday
is observed on April 5 because the ruling Kuomintang moved it to
that date in commemoration of the death of Chiang Kai-shek on April
5.
Despite having no holiday status, the
overseas Chinese
communities in Southeast Asian
nations, such as those in Singapore
and Malaysia, take this
festival seriously and observe its traditions faithfully. Some Qingming rituals
and ancestral veneration decorum observed by the oversea Chinese in Malaysia
and Singapore can be dated back to Ming and Qing dynasties, as the oversea
communities were not affected by the Cultural Revolution in Mainland China.
Qingming in Malaysia is an elaborate family function or a clan feast (usually
organized by the respective clan association) to commemorate and honour
recently deceased relatives at their grave sites and distant ancestors from
China at home altars, clan temples or makeshift altars in Buddhist or Taoist
temples. For the oversea Chinese community, the Qingming festival is very much
a family celebration and, at the same time, a family obligation. They see this
festival as a time of reflection and to honour and give thanks to their
forefathers. Overseas Chinese normally visit the graves of their recently
deceased relatives on the nearest weekend to the actual date. According to the
ancient custom, grave site veneration is only feasible ten days before and after
the Qingming Festival. If the visit is not on the actual date, normally
veneration before Qingming is encouraged. The Qingming Festival in Malaysia and Singapore normally starts
early in the morning by paying respect to distant ancestors from China at home
altars. This is followed by visiting the graves of close relatives in the
country. Some follow the concept of filial piety to the extent
of visiting the graves of their ancestors in mainland China.
Traditionally, the family will burn spirit money and paper
replicas of material goods such as cars, homes, phones and paper servants. In
Chinese culture, it is believed that people still need all of those things in
the afterlife. Then family members start take turns to kowtow three to nine
times (depending on the family adherence to traditional values) before the tomb
of the ancestors. The Kowtowing
ritual in front of the grave is performed in the order of patriarchal seniority
within the family. After the ancestor worship at the grave site, the whole
family or the whole clan feast on the food and drink they brought for the
worship either at the site or in nearby gardens in the memorial park,
signifying family reunion with the ancestors.
Hanshi, the day before
Qingming, was created by Chong'er, the
Duke Wen of the state of Jin
during the Spring and
Autumn period. The festival was established after Chong'er
accidentally burned to death his friend and servant Jie Zhitui (介之推) (or Jie Zitui) and Jie Zitui's mother. Chong'er ordered the hills
in which they were hiding set on fire in the hope that Jie Zitui would return
to his service, but the fire killed Jie and his mother. Because of this, people
were not allowed to use fires to heat up food and the date became named Hanshi.
Eventually, 300 years ago, the Hanshi "celebration" was combined with
the Qingming festival and later abandoned by most people.
In literature
Qingming was frequently mentioned in Chinese literature. Among
these, the most famous one is probably Du Mu's poem (simply
titled "Qingming"):
English
translation
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清明时节雨纷纷
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qīng míng shí jié yǔ fēn fēn
|
A drizzling rain falls like tears
on the Mourning Day;
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路上行人欲断魂
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lù shàng xíng rén yù duàn hún
|
The mourner's heart is breaking on
his way.
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借问酒家何处有
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jiè wèn jiǔ jiā hé chù yǒu
|
Where can a winehouse be found to
drown his sadness?
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牧童遥指杏花村
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mù tóng yáo zhǐ xìng huā cūn
|
A cowherd points to Almond Flower
(Xing Hua) Village in the distance.
|
(The word 酒家 can have multiple meanings: winehouse, inn, tavern, restaurant,
hostel, hotel or motel. The most common and most appropriate translation for '酒家' should be 'inn' or 'tavern.'
From Wikipedia
