Introduction to the traditional festivals of Qingming Festival in China

Qingming Festival customs

The customs of Qingming Festival include tomb sweeping, ancestral worship, outing, spring outing, tree planting, etc., reflecting the dual color of mourning and remembrance as the tone and spring welcome and fitness as the adjustment. In the context of modern society, people are constantly transforming and developing the connotation and form of the Qingming Festival custom in conjunction with the development of the times.

[Sweeping graves and worshiping ancestors]

Sweeping tombs and worshiping ancestors is the most important activity content of Qingming Festival. In the past, during the Qingming Festival, people, regardless of whether they were noble or humble, always visited the graves of their deceased ancestors. The grave-sweeping time is not limited to Qingming Festival, and the situation varies from place to place. When sweeping the tomb, we must first cut off all weeds on the tomb and repair the surroundings of the tomb. Then add some new soil to the tomb for protection. Then burn paper money and incense sticks, offer wine, meat and food, set off firecrackers, and finally kneel down to our ancestors.

Qingming Festival Sacrifice to ancestors and Tomb Sweeping ("Complete Works of China Folk Art·Painting Volume")

The Chinese nation has attached great importance to ancestral worship since ancient times. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the concept was popular-"The only thing that matters of the country are to sacrifice to the Rong", which means that offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods is a national and national event that is as important as pacifying the world through force. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, commented on this. He said: "When you live, you do things with courtesy; when you die, you bury them with courtesy, and when you sacrifice them with courtesy." He also said: "Death is like life." This means that descendants of the family must serve the elders with all their strength during their lifetime and do the same after their death.

Guanhua (collected by the Palace Museum) Serving with your heart as much as possible is filial piety. Confucianism generally adopts an attitude towards ghosts and gods. They advocate ancestor worship, not mainly because of superstition, but from the perspective of moral education. Zengzi said: "Be cautious in pursuing the future, and the people's virtue will be strengthened." In other words, only in daily life, descendants of the family often think that their happy life originated from the reproduction of their ancestors, understand the truth that predecessors planted trees and future generations enjoyed the shade, and drink water and think of the source, can they maintain the morality of being simple, kind, and harmonious with the clan. quality. From this method of cultivating filial sons, later emperors learned the tricks of cultivating loyal ministers. They believed that filial sons and virtuous grandchildren who fulfilled their filial piety at home would become loyal ministers of the court in the future. As a result, promoting filial piety has become a long-term national policy to maintain the stability of the country, and sweeping tombs and worshiping ancestors during the Qingming Festival has become of unusual significance.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the content and form of tomb sweeping during the Qingming Festival have undergone significant changes. Cremation has replaced burials, and in recent decades a new type of cemetery has emerged-cemeteries, where people collect the ashes of their loved ones. This kind of cemetery does not take up much space and the memorial service form is relatively simple, but it retains the tradition of tomb worship to a large extent. Once this new type of cemetery was launched, it became important to the world. Every year, before and after the Qingming Festival, there is always an endless stream of people who visit suburban cemeteries to pay homage.

If cremation has brought a new tone of memorial service to the world of "remembering the ancestors and being simple", the gradually emerging form of scattering ashes in rivers, seas, mountains and rivers in recent years has further promoted this tone. Premier Zhou Enlai said: "Not retaining remains is the first revolution in funeral customs; not retaining ashes is the second revolution, and it is a more thorough revolution." The ashes fall with the wind and are no longer fixed in a corner, so the way of memorial ceremonies for future generations will naturally become simpler.

Of course, traditional inertia has caused the old custom of burning paper money and ghost utensils during the Qingming Festival to continue in many places, and in some places, absurd superstitious activities have even appeared. However, more and more rational people are actively responding to the government's call to "provide generous care and reduce burial" and "civilized sacrifice". New festivals such as flower sweeping, mobile phone text message sweeping, and online tomb sweeping are gradually emerging in society. Especially in the contemporary era where technology is changing rapidly, the Internet allows people to visit graves without leaving home. Some young people set up a special page on the website for their deceased relatives, put photos and other relevant information on it, and wrote words of remembrance and remembrance. Before and after the Qingming Festival, they went online to open the website and sent a piece of fragrance from afar. The form and intention are also available. This new way of memorial service, which saves time and effort, is welcomed by people.

"Qingming Festival" ancestor worship and Xuanyuan Huangdi Mausoleum The Qingming Festival is not limited to tomb sweeping. In addition to tomb sweeping, what else can the Qingming Festival do?

The festival spirit of the Qingming Festival is "juxtaposing life and death." The "joys and sorrows" during the Qingming Festival reflects the humanistic value. China people learn to be grateful during the Qingming Festival

[Spring outing]

"The ice on the river is fading and the grass on the banks is green, so go for a walk." The Qingming Festival is also a time of vitality. People bid farewell to their dormant household life, face the bright spring sunshine, breathe the breath of green green grass, step on the soft land, and wander in the colorful fields where orioles are singing and dancing. How lively and happy the mood must be at that time!

Speaking of hiking and entertainment, we can go all the way back to Confucius. The Analects of Confucius records that Confucius once discussed life aspirations with his disciples. When other disciples generously stated their grand blueprint for governing the country and maintaining peace, Confucius did not respond. Zeng Xi said: "In late spring, wearing freshly made spring clothes, I went to Yishui to bathe with five or six friends and six or seven children, and danced with the wind. After washing, I hummed folk tunes and set foot on my way home." When Confucius heard this, he smiled and nodded and said,"I agree with your ideals." The dialogue between Confucius and Zeng Xi shows that as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period, people had activities to bathe and go green in the late spring.

The "Riverside Picture during the Qingming Festival" by Song Dynasty painter Zhang Zeduan vividly depicts the life scenes of various social groups during the Qingming Festival near Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, with the Bian River as the center. The painting involves many characters, each with its own shapes. The characters in the author's painting, whether they are riding in a sedan chair, riding a donkey on foot, whether they are street performers or market traders, do not show the slightest sad expression. The whole painting sets off a completely happy and peaceful festive atmosphere. It seems that in addition to the sad atmosphere directly expressed in the Qingming Festival, the cheerful atmosphere contained in it is also its proper meaning.

In an essay titled "Qingming Festival", modern writer Feng Zikai once recalled the mood of traveling with his family during Qingming Festival when he was a child: "We lived in the low, narrow, century-old house in the bustling market all year round, and once we came to the countryside. The fields felt extremely fresh and in a very good mood, as if traveling around the world. Therefore, we regard sweeping tombs during the Qingming Festival as a supreme pleasure." He humorously called this kind of outing "taking advantage of the tomb to visit the spring." In fact, this kind of good mood for hiking is not only for children, but even adults can forget it. Feng Zikai mentioned in this essay the "Tomb Sweeping Bamboo Branch Poetry" written by his father. One: "Don't let the spring breeze go for another year, pear blossoms are like snow willows and smoke. The family buried it in the grave, and the money was first folded five days ago." Third: "Both draw oars and sway with light waves, and the spring breeze and laughter all the way. When I saw the embankment in front of the tomb, there were more pine shadows than last year." Eighth: "I will take advantage of the slanting light and the dragonflies on the water fly one by one. Win and win the spring, and the boat is full of wild flowers." It should be said that the Qingming Festival outing provides an opportunity for people who are accustomed to living a regular life to release their emotions.

[Kite Flying]

Shimei Flying a Kite (Yangliuqing New Year Picture)

Kites have a long history. Flying kites originated from ancient witchcraft. The ancients believed that flying kites could take away evil spirits and bad luck. It is said that the world's first kite was made of wood by Lu Ban, a famous craftsman in the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, there were also kites made of bamboo. Paper kites appeared in the Han Dynasty, called "paper kites". After the Tang Dynasty, kites became increasingly popular as a children's toy. Gao Ding, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, once described the scene of flying kites as follows: "The grass grows and the orioles fly in February, and the willows brush the embankment and get drunk with the spring smoke. The children came back early from school and took advantage of the east wind to release paper kites." People added a bamboo flute to the paper kite. After the paper kite flew into the sky, it was blown by the wind, making a "wu" sound, like the sound of a zheng playing, so people renamed the paper kite "kite". The most famous kite event in contemporary China is the "International Kite Festival" in Weifang, Shandong Province. Since 1984, it has been held every year on the Qingming Festival. Weifang is therefore known as the "World Kite Capital."

[Swing]

Willow Swing ("Yueman Qing Tour Album")

Swing was originally mainly a women's game. It originated very early and was popular during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Since the Tang Dynasty, it has been popular in the north and south of the country. Therefore, the ancient Qingming Festival was also called the "Swing Festival". Li Qingzhao, a famous female poet in the Song Dynasty, once described in his poem "Dotting the Crimson Lips":"Break off the swing and get up to straighten your slender hands. The dew is thick, the flowers are thin, and the clothes are thin." Later, swinging was not limited to women and became a game for both men and women. According to folk legend, swinging can dispel all diseases, and the higher the swing, the better life is.

[Cockfight]

Cockfighting became popular during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and has developed more vigorously since the Tang Dynasty. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty loved this entertainment very much and even set up a "chicken shop" in the palace to select more than a thousand roosters from Chang 'an City and hand them over to 500 selected children for training. The children were led by 7-year-old Jia Chang. Because he was good at training cockfighting, he was very favored by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. He often rewarded him and his family with valuables such as gold, silk, and other valuables. At that time, a folk song once bitterly satirized: "You don't need to know literature to give birth to children. Fighting cocks and horses is better than reading."

[Cuju]

Cuju picture (Shanghai Museum Collection)

Cuju is also a spring entertainment activity that became popular in the Tang Dynasty. The great poet Wang Wei has the poem "Cold Food in the East of the City" as evidence: "Cuju often flies on the birds, and the swing competes among the weeping poplar trees." It describes the lively Cuju scene. Cuju is to kick the ball. At that time, the ball played was called "Ju". It used a kind of ball with fur inside it. It is said that this is the origin of football, which is in full swing in the contemporary world. To the Song Dynasty. This sport is even more popular."Water Margin" once tells the story of Gao Qiu, a dilapidated family, who made his fortune because he was good at playing football.

[Tug-of-war]

Tug-of-war, also known as dragging hook, began in the Tang Dynasty. One year during the Qingming Festival, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered senior civil and military officials above the third rank of the Manchu Dynasty, together with scholars, to gather at the court. The teams held tug-of-war in batches. The ropes used were large hemp ropes tied with more than a thousand small ropes at both ends. Hundreds of people were divided into two teams and held each other at both ends. During the game, the weak ones were the losers. Zhongzong took the queen, concubines, and princesses to watch the battle. The shouts shook the sky and the mountains shook, showing an unprecedented grand occasion. It is said that the tug-of-war held during the Qingming Festival, when spring plowing and planting, has the meaning of praying for a good harvest, and emperors of past dynasties naturally attached great importance to it.

tug of war

[Wearing willow inserted willow]

Planting willows is an important custom during Qingming Festival. Every Qingming Festival, no matter whether it is north or south of the Yangtze River, every household has to break willow branches and plant them on their doorlintel. Large households also have to string swallow-shaped festive food on the wicker. When going to the suburbs to visit tombs, everyone would put willow branches on their clothes. Children would weave wicker into hats and wear them on their heads. Girls would put willow branches obliquely in their temples. They would also have to hang willow branches on the sedan chairs they took. In "The Painting of Shanghe during the Qingming Festival", there is a picture of willow trees on the roof of a sedan chair after returning from a outing in the suburbs. In some areas in the south, wells were cleaned clean and wicker trees were planted beside the wells before the Qingming Festival. Due to the rare availability of willow branches in the city during the Qingming Festival, there were even many hawkers hawking wicker in the streets and alleys. These scenes are just like the poem of my neighbor Yang Yunhua: "It's the same day after Qingming Festival. I can hear that wicker is sold along the street. Meet the sisters next to each other, and one tree is obliquely inserted into the green clouds."

It is not entirely a psychological factor that people are so superstitious about wicker. It should be said that it has something to do with the willow's own growth habits. Willow trees get the spring qi first. Every year when winter and spring change, when the countryside is still depressed, they are always the first to spit out new green.

Children playing with kites (Yangliuqing New Year pictures)

In an essay, Feng Zikai once described his feeling when he first saw tender willows every year: "I like willows and swallows best, especially tender willows that have just been dyed goose yellow... Every early spring, at the turn of the first month and February, when I see fine beads hanging on the lines of willow branches with a faint blue color, but 'I can see from a distance but not near', my heart is filled with ecstasy, which immediately turns into anxiety, as if often saying: 'Spring is here, don't let go! Hurry up and try to entertain it, enjoy it, and keep it forever.'" Indeed, as the messenger of spring, the survival characteristics of willows that are easy to plant and live always show their vitality. Therefore, in the ancient concept, willow trees were not ordinary trees, but had magical powers. When fires are changed in spring, new fires during the Qingming Festival are often taken from willow trees, and the transmission of new folk fires is also carried out through wicker trees. Just as Jia Daoyun, a poet in the Tang Dynasty: "The sunny wind blows catkins, and the new fire smokes the kitchen."

untended Willow

After the founding of New China, the superstitious color of planting wicker during the Qingming Festival was gradually abandoned by people, but gave it a healthier and positive meaning-"planting willows to leave spring" was welcomed by the people. Because "willow" and "Liu" are homophonic, since the poem "Once upon a time, I have gone, and the willows are leaning towards each other" in "The Book of Songs·Xiaoya", the earliest collection of poems in my country, the willows are given to friends and farewell with each other, which means that "spring light is always there". It can be imagined that people use green willow branches to pray for retention of spring, youth, and life in late spring. It is indeed a moving picture. Later, planting willows to stay in spring gradually evolved into planting trees to stay in spring, because more and more people found that when the seeds of hope were sown in spring, when the lush green eyes filled themselves and everyone a few years later, that is, they retained spring, youth, and life.

A folk proverb once described and prayed for the green of spring: "New fires have just emerged from the bamboo house, and green smoke blows into rain. Willows are the most heartless things, and they also follow the spring breeze to the clouds on their temples." There is reason to believe that when more and more people in the whole society can actively participate in and consciously practice the great cause of afforestation, then the day when the desire to plant trees and retain spring will be truly realized will be closer and closer.（