What day is Tomb-Sweeping Day every year?

When is Tomb-Sweeping Day? What day is Tomb-Sweeping Day every year?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is generally around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar, the 5th day after the vernal equinox/kloc-0.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as outing festival, outing festival, March festival, ancestor worship festival, etc. It was celebrated at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ancestral belief and the custom of worshipping spring in ancient times, which has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional major Spring Festival. It is a fine tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times to sweep graves and remember our ancestors. It is not only conducive to promoting filial piety, awakening family memories, but also conducive to promoting the cohesion and identity of family members and even the nation. Tomb-Sweeping Day's integration of natural solar terms and humanistic customs is a combination of humanistic and natural conditions, which fully embodies the Chinese ancestors' pursuit of harmony between heaven, earth and people, pays attention to conforming to the right time, place and people, and follows the laws of nature. Tomb-Sweeping Day is rich in festivals and customs. Grave-sweeping and hiking are two major themes of etiquette and custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The two traditional themes of etiquette and custom have been passed down in China since ancient times and have never stopped.

Why is Tomb-Sweeping Day a solar calendar?

The original "24 solar terms" were determined according to the direction of Beidou bucket handle. Bucket handle rotates clockwise from the "Yin position". When bucket handle points to "B", it is Tomb-Sweeping Day's anger.

"B position" means that the longitude of the sun reaches 15 degrees, which happens to be around April 5 of the lunar calendar every year. For the convenience of memory, people directly record the time in Tomb-Sweeping Day as April 4th-April 6th.

According to the "average time method", the time between the winter solstice and the next winter solstice is divided into 24 parts, one of which is 15 degrees. In other words, Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi will appear on the first 105 day after winter.

According to this method, Tomb-Sweeping Day is still around April 5th in the solar calendar, so people directly remember that Tomb-Sweeping Day is April 4th, April 5th or April 6th in the solar calendar.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival that people in China attach great importance to. The most important activities on this day are grave-sweeping, ancestor worship and outing. On this day, people will bring tributes home to pay homage to their ancestors to show their memory of the dead.

The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day

It is said that it began with the "tomb sacrifice" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals, and later people followed suit and became a fixed custom of the Chinese nation to worship ancestors and sweep graves on this day. Originally, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of sweeping graves was designated as the Cold Food Festival.

The name "Tomb-Sweeping Day" also comes from the Tomb-Sweeping Day atmosphere in the twenty-four solar terms of the China lunar calendar. 105 The first day after winter is Qi Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day gas * * * has 15 days. As it is Tomb-Sweeping Day, the time is after the vernal equinox. At this time, winter has gone, spring is full, the weather is sunny, the fields are bright and clean, and the vitality of nature is everywhere. It is an appropriate word to call this period "Qingming".

Tomb-Sweeping Day custom

There are many customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day, such as forbidding fire and sweeping graves, as well as a series of customs and sports activities such as jogging, swinging, cuju, playing polo and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because Tomb-Sweeping Day wants to ban cold food and fire. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, we all take part in some sports activities to exercise. Therefore, this festival is a traditional festival with distinctive features in China. It contains both sad tears to sweep the new grave and laughter for an outing.

Legends about Tomb-Sweeping Day

Legend 1: This first statement is far away from us, that is, the Three Kingdoms period when heroes gathered. It is said that Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, worked hard to govern Shu Han and won the love of the people. But Zhuge Liang worked hard all his life and made a will before he died. After his death, he could not be extravagant and was buried in a thin coffin, so the court did not build an ancestral temple for him. However, during the three-day Cold Food Festival, many ordinary people spontaneously placed tributes in the fields to pay homage to the late Zhu Gekongming. When the court learned of this incident, it felt that Zhuge Liang's funeral arrangements were inappropriate, so it officially moved Zhuge Liang's memorial tablet into Liu Bei's temple and built another temple for Zhuge Liang to worship. However, at this time, the custom of the wild sacrifice of the Cold Food Festival has been formed, and it has gradually evolved into an adult memorial to clean up the graves of ancestors.

Legend 2: The second legend is in the Spring and Autumn Period, which comes from a historical figure-meson push. During the Spring and Autumn Period, when Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, and his courtiers were exiled, Zhong Er was tired and hungry and fainted on the road. The courtiers ate nothing. In desperation, a courtier named Jiezitui cut a piece of meat from his thigh and cooked a bowl of soup for his son to drink. Zhong Er gradually regained consciousness.

Then, Zhong Er returned to the State of Jin, namely Jin Wengong. Immediately reward the courtiers who were exiled with him that year. But I only forgot meson push. Jiezitui was heartbroken and lived in seclusion in the mountains.

Jin Wengong knew and regretted it. He personally took people to the mountains to ask meson to push, but he didn't know where meson was going. There are too many trees on the mountain to walk, so Zhong Er wants to burn the mountain forest and push the meson out. It backfired and burned him.

When meson tui died, he left a bloody book, which read: "May you have a good life and may your master be clear." To commemorate meson push, Jin Wengong ordered that this day be designated as Tomb-Sweeping Day.