Happy Tomb Sweeping Day! The 104th day after the winter solstice is celebrated in China as the Qingming festival. Throughout China, People go outside to tend to the graves of deceased loved ones and to enjoy the beauty of springtime.
As the English name implies, the holiday is also an occasion to carefully tend and restore revered grave sites because, above all, the Qingming Festival is an occasion for ancestor worship. Celebrants visit graves and tombs with offerings for the dead. Traditional offerings include roosters, flowers, paper decorations, pastries, tea, incense, chopsticks, wine and/or liquor.
In addition to being a day to show respect for the dead, Tomb Sweeping Day is a celebration of the changing seasons. People go on family outings together to enjoy blossoms or fly kites (these kites are usually shaped like animals or heroes from Chinese opera). Some people carry flowers or willow branches with them throughout the day or decorate their houses with willow branches–which are believed to ward off the wandering dead.
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April 4, 2012 at 8:38 PM
SpiderGoddes
Reblogged this on Spider Goddess and commented:
I love reading this blog, and I really enjoyed this post. Next year I would like to observe this tradition as a way of honoring my ancestors.
April 10, 2012 at 9:28 AM
Wayne
Thanks for the compliment. I used to go out with a Chinese American woman and every once in a while we would burn hell dollars for the ancestors. I always wondered what the shades of my (wasp) ancestors did with the sudden windfall of Chinese afterlife currency.
April 10, 2012 at 9:46 AM
SpiderGoddes
That is an awesome visual. I am sure they were pleased, regardless! lol