What is the symbol of Tomb-Sweeping Day? Originated from ~ for what? What's the point of sweeping graves? Embodies a virtue of the Chinese nation?

Tomb-Sweeping Day symbolizes sacrifice, which is a day for ancestor worship, grave sweeping and outing. It started in the Zhou Dynasty and was designed for the Cold Food Festival. Grave-sweeping is to commemorate ancestors and reflect the filial piety and virtue of the Chinese nation.

It is said that the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day began with the "grave-sweeping" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals. Later, people followed suit, and it became a fixed custom of the Chinese nation to worship ancestors and sweep graves on this day.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China. Generally, it is around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar, and the festival is very long. There are two sayings: 8 days before 10 and 10 days before 10, and these 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day. On May 20, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Tomb-Sweeping Day declared by the Ministry of Culture of China was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (category: folk customs; No.: X-2).

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, the first 108 day from winter to the future. It is a traditional festival in China, and it is also one of the most important festivals to worship ancestors and sweep graves.

The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day of the Han nationality in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Influenced by the Han culture, 24 ethnic minorities in China, such as Manchu, Hezhe, Zhuang, Oroqen, Dong, Tujia, Miao, Yao, Li, Shui, Jing and Qiang, also have the customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day. Grave sweeping, ancestor worship and outing are the basic themes.

Tomb-Sweeping Day was originally just the name of a solar term. Twenty-four solar terms are the climatic laws summed up by astronomers and people in ancient China in their life and production practice, which appropriately reflect the changes in temperature, phenology and rainfall throughout the year, and have indispensable guiding significance for people to arrange farming and sericulture activities on time. By Qingming, the temperature is getting warmer and the rainfall is increasing, which is a good season for spring ploughing and spring planting. Therefore, Qingming is an important solar term in ancient agricultural production. The farmer's proverb says, "Before and after Qingming Festival, point melons to plant beans" and "Planting trees is nothing more than Qingming Festival", which is precisely the truth.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cui Mang's Moon Order for Four recorded: "Tomb-Sweeping Day ordered a silkworm concubine to stay in the silkworm room ..." It is said that it was at this time that he began to prepare for sericulture. "Tomb-Sweeping Day" is just a solar term, not a festival.

"Almanac": "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to Ding, which is used for Qingming, when everything is clean and bright, and when it is covered, everything is clean and bright, hence the name." As soon as Qingming arrives, the temperature rises, which is a good time for spring ploughing. Therefore, there is a saying that "before and after the Qingming Festival, melons, fruits and beans are planted".

It has become a festival to commemorate ancestors and is related to the Cold Food Festival. Jin Wengong designated the second day of the Cold Food Festival as Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The participants in Tomb-Sweeping Day are all the people, from princes and ministers to ordinary people, to pay homage to the dead souls of their ancestors on this festival. Since the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court has given officials a holiday and asked them to go to their hometown to visit their graves.

Tomb-Sweeping Day mainly worships ancestors and deceased relatives, expressing the worshippers' filial piety and feelings of missing the deceased. Tomb-Sweeping Day belongs to Ghost Festival, but it is usually not named Ghost Festival, because it mainly worships good ghosts, family ghosts, or the dead souls of loved ones, and focuses on expressing filial piety and affection.

According to the different places of sacrifice, Tomb-Sweeping Day can be divided into tomb sacrifice and ancestral temple sacrifice. Tomb sacrifice is the most common. Tomb-Sweeping Day is characterized by tomb sacrifices. When offering sacrifices in the cemetery, the worshippers are closest to the objects of sacrifice, which is easy to cause a sense of closeness, so that the living can better express and pin their filial piety and affection for the deceased. Tomb-Sweeping Day is called grave-sweeping, mainly because of the way of grave-sweeping. Another form is ancestral temple sacrifice, also called temple fair sacrifice, which means that people of a clan gather in the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors first, and then have a meeting and dinner after the sacrifice. This kind of sacrifice is a way of ethnic reunion. Another situation is that people who work in other places can't rush back to their hometown to sweep their graves, so they worship at a distance in the direction of their hometown on the mountains or high places.

When sweeping the grave, the grave should be renovated first, mainly to remove weeds and cultivate new soil. On the one hand, this behavior can express the filial piety and care for the dead. On the other hand, in the belief of the ancients, the graves of ancestors have a great relationship with the rise and fall of future generations, so tomb repair is a commemorative content that cannot be ignored.

Tomb-Sweeping Day not only pays attention to the prohibition of fire to sweep graves, but also has a series of customs and sports activities, such as climbing, swinging, cuju, polo, swinging and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because it is forbidden to eat cold food during the Cold Food Festival. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, everyone comes to participate in some sports activities to exercise.