Qingming Festival

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Qingming Festival

Applicant: Ministry of culture

Project No.: 450

Project No.: X - 2

Time of publication: 2006 (the first batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Zhongzhi unit

Type: new item

Applicant: Ministry of culture

Protection unit: Ministry of culture and Tourism

Qingming Festival

Applicant: Ministry of culture

Qingming Festival is one of the important traditional festivals in China, and it is still one of the important festivals of the Chinese nation, including overseas Chinese. Qingming Festival, also known as March festival in ancient times, has a history of more than 2000 years. Before and after April 5 of the Gregorian calendar is Qingming Festival, originally one of the 24 solar terms. This festival is celebrated in the Han nationality and some minority areas of China.

Among the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, Qingming is the only one that is both a solar term and a festival. Since the 24 solar terms objectively reflected the changes of temperature, rainfall and phenology in the four seasons of the year, the ancient working people arranged farming activities accordingly. "Huainanzi astronomy training" says: "15 days after the equinox, Dou Zhi B, then Qingming wind." "All things grow up at this time, they are clean and clear, so it is called Qingming." As soon as the Qingming Festival arrives, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good time for spring cultivation and spring planting. Therefore, there are agricultural proverbs that "before and after the Qingming Festival, you can plant melons and beans" and "afforestation is better than Qingming Festival". It can be seen that this solar term has a very close relationship with agricultural production.

However, Qingming Festival, as a festival, is different from pure solar terms, which contains rich contents of customs and activities.

Qingming Festival is a festival to commemorate the ancestors. The main activities are ancestor worship and tomb sweeping, which are the concrete manifestations of people's cautious pursuit of the future, family harmony and filial piety. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, tomb sacrifice has become one of the important ritual activities. Tomb sweeping was originally the content of cold food festival the day before Qingming Festival. It is said that the cold food festival started from the mourning of Jin Wengong for Jie Zitui. In the 20th year of Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, he ordered the whole world to "go to the grave with cold food". Later, as the cold food was close to the Tomb Sweeping Day, the day when fire was forbidden and tomb sweeping was gradually integrated with the Tomb Sweeping Day. Cold food is not only a nickname for Qingming, but also a custom of Qingming. On the day of Qingming, people don't use fireworks but only eat cold food.

In addition to banning fire and sweeping tombs, there are also activities such as outings, kite flying, swing, entertainment games, etc. in Jiangnan, there are also activities such as silkworm flower fair and sacrifice to silkworm God. Therefore, the Qingming Festival is a special festival, with the sad tears of tomb sweeping and the laughter of outing. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, people from all over the country went to the cemetery of revolutionary martyrs around the tomb sweeping day to express their nostalgia for the martyrs.

The cultural significance of Qingming Festival is extraordinary. It can meet the emotional needs of people to recall their ancestors and strengthen the family relationship. By offering sacrifices to ancestors, we can trace back to the source and draw lessons from history, so as to better educate future generations. Seeking roots and offering sacrifices to ancestors, remembering the martyrs, uniting the overseas Chinese at home and abroad, looking forward to the motherland, and enhancing the cohesion of the Chinese nation.