Qingming is one of the twenty-four solar terms in my country. Because the twenty-four solar terms more objectively reflect the changes in temperature, rainfall, and phenology throughout the year, the ancient working people used it to arrange agricultural activities. As soon as the Qingming Festival arrives, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good time for spring plowing and spring planting. Therefore, there are agricultural proverbs such as “before and after Qingming, seed melons and beans” and “nothing is better than Qingming to plant trees”. It can be seen that this solar term is closely related to agricultural production.
However, Qingming, as a festival, is different from general solar terms. Solar terms are symbols of phenological changes and seasonal sequences in our country, while festivals contain certain customary activities and commemorative meanings.
Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in my country, and it is also the most important sacrificial festival. It is a day for ancestor worship and tomb sweeping. Tomb-sweeping is an activity to worship the deceased. Most of the Han and some ethnic minorities are tomb-sweeping during the Qingming Festival.
According to the old custom, when sweeping the tomb, people should bring wine, food, fruit, spiritual money and other items to the cemetery, offer the food to the tomb of their relatives, then incinerate the spiritual money, cultivate new soil for the tomb, fold a few green branches and insert it on the tomb , and then kowtow to pay homage, and finally eat food and drink and go home.
Qingming Festival, also known as Outing Festival, according to the Gregorian calendar, it falls between April 4th and 6th every year. At that time, the ancients had the custom of outing on the Qingming Festival and carrying out a series of sports activities.
To this day, the custom of worshiping ancestors and mourning deceased relatives on Qingming Festival is still very popular.