Qingming Festival – a festival Tradition in China
There are four great traditional festivals, the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Qingming Festival. The Qingming Festival usually falls on the 15th day after Spring Equinox. This year it falls on April 4th.
Qingming Festival Practice and observation
The festival goes by many names including Tomb Sweeping Day, Ancestors’ Day, and sometimes Chinese Memorial Day. As the name indicates, it is a day to visit ancestors’ tombs by way of remembrance. Families typically sweep and clean the gravesites, pray, and make some ritual offerings.
While the festival has been observed for over 2500 years, it only became a Chinese public holiday in 2008. The holiday takes place in spring when everything is coming back to life. People often take advantage of the weather by enjoying nature and discovering the beauty of spring. During the festival you will often find people involved in all kinds of outdoor activities such as kite flying, tree planting, rope pulling competitions, swinging and so forth. This spring festival is a wonderful time to both remember your roots, by honoring your ancestors, and to simultaneously have new hope for the future with the coming of spring.
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