All ethnic groups celebrate Qingming Festival

25 ethnic groups celebrate Qingming Festival

There are 25 ethnic groups in China that celebrate the Qingming Festival. Although customs vary from place to place, sweeping tombs to worship ancestors and outing are the basic themes. Influenced by Han culture, 24 ethnic minorities in China, including Manchu, Hezhe, Dong, Miao, Yao, Li, Shui, Jing, and Qiang, also have the custom of Qingming Festival. There are some ethnic minorities who celebrate the Qingming Festival more solemnly and with more flavor than the Han people.

Scholars say that 25 ethnic groups in China celebrate the Qingming Festival. Although customs vary from place to place, sweeping tombs to worship ancestors and outing are the basic themes.

Wu Bingan, deputy director of the National Expert Committee on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage, said that compared with Westerners, Orientals, especially the Han people in China, have a very strong concept of ancestors. This is probably related to the origin of agricultural civilization, where farming techniques, family undertakings, and clans all pay attention to the inheritance of generations, as well as Confucian ideas. Therefore, for more than 2,000 years, the Qingming Festival has become a unique civilization inherited by the Han nation.

Professor Wu Bing 'an pointed out that influenced by Han culture, 24 ethnic minorities in China, including Manchu, Hezhe, Dong, Miao, Yao, Li, Shui, Jing, and Qiang, also have the customs of Qingming Festival. There are some ethnic minorities who celebrate the Qingming Festival more solemnly and with more flavor than the Han people.

Wu Bing 'an gave an example that the Zhuang people attached great importance to the sweeping of their ancestral tombs. At that time, the whole family would be dispatched to bring five-color boards, meat, incense sticks, paper flags, etc. to the ancestral tomb to pay tribute and pay homage. Tujia people go to their graves and hang green on Qingming Festival, and eat pig's head meat at home. There is a saying that "when you are drunk during Qingming Festival, the pig's skull tastes delicious." Some ethnic groups have gradually added colorful fitness and entertainment customs such as swinging, flying kites, and playing football during their outing during the Qingming Festival.

Qingming Festival is one of the important traditional folk festivals in China. Last year, it was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.

Taiwan Qingming Festival

China has a vast territory and has different climates from north to south, so the Qingming Festival also varies from place to place, from the second day of February to the third day of March. Taiwan's Qingming Festival is the 105th day since the winter solstice of the previous year, and Taiwan's Zhangzhou people's Qingming Festival is on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. The customs of Qingming Festival in Taiwan are similar to those in southern Fujian. The time for Taiwanese Hakka people to worship ancestors and visit tombs begins after the Lantern Festival, and the dates are set by each family until the Qingming Festival.

The grave-sweeping customs of Taiwanese people can generally be divided into two types: one is general sweeping, and the rituals and sacrifices are relatively simple, and most of them only provide some rice cakes, cakes and cakes; the other is to repair the ancestral tomb, and the sacrificial ceremony is quite grand. The sacrificial rites generally include twelve kinds of vegetables, cakes, etc. When sweeping the tomb, you must lay "tomb paper"(cut into rectangles with five-color paper) around the tomb. Each paper must be pressed with small stones, and a stack must be placed on the tombstone. This ceremony, commonly known as "hanging paper", is money donated to ancestors. If it is to cultivate a tomb, that is, repair the ancestral tomb, the whole family will gather around the tomb and eat red eggs. The egg shells will be scattered on the cemetery, which carries the auspicious meaning of metabolism and endless life. While sweeping the tomb, we must also pay homage to the Land Lord (there is a small stone tablet) who has stood aside for a long time to protect the cemetery and the safety of our ancestors. On the one hand, it is to comfort and also to express gratitude. There is also a special custom in Taiwan. If there is a happy event in the family during this year and the tomb needs to be renovated during the tomb, a small red light (oil lamp) must be prepared to light in front of the tomb and take it home when you go home. It is said that it will attract more joy and good luck.

In the past, in rural Taiwan, every time after sweeping a tomb, a group of children would come to ask for cakes. The more people came, they said that the family would become more and more prosperous in the future. The owners were also happy to distribute "cakes" or money to those children.

Later, due to the reduction of cemeteries in Taiwan, the urns were implemented. Many people placed urns on the urns and went to the urns to worship every time they visited the Qingming Festival, which also served as a way to worship their ancestors. Due to the gradual changes in people's concepts, many rituals to sweep ancestral tombs have also been omitted.

Foreign "Qingming Festival"

May 6th is Martyrs 'Day in Syria. That night, government officials hosted a banquet in honor of the relatives of the martyrs.

May 30 is Memorial Day in most states in the United States.

In August, there is an Oulan Festival between the seventh and eighth months of the Japanese lunar calendar. Institutions and enterprises have a three-day holiday. City people return to the countryside to sweep the tombs of their ancestors.

September 1 is Tunisia's National Tomb Cleaning Day, also known as Heroes 'Day, to commemorate the martyrs who died during the independence struggle.

October 31 is Mexico's Day of the Dead. At night, people wear strange costumes and masks passed down from their ancestors, singing and dancing to the dead of their ancestors. Legend has it that this originated from an Indian custom.

November 1st is All Souls 'Day in France. In addition to sweeping the tombs of their ancestors, people also laid flowers at the Paris Commune Monument.