What are the three customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

The three major customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day are breaking willows to bid farewell, inserting willows and shooting willows.

Folding willows to bid farewell is to wish each other peace and place good wishes on relatives and friends; Insert willow to ward off evil spirits and prevent ghost intrusion; Shooting willow is a game to practice archery. In addition, there is the traditional custom of arranging flowers for outing, which is divided into three parts: arranging flowers, outing and shooting willows. This is the main cultural activity in Tomb-Sweeping Day. These activities not only enrich people's lives, but also inherit the culture of the Chinese nation.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as outing festival, outing festival, March festival, ancestor worship festival, etc. Held at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-Sweeping Day, which originated from the ancestor belief of early human beings, is the biggest ancestor worship festival of the Chinese nation. Tomb-Sweeping Day has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival. Grave-sweeping and outing are two major custom themes in Tomb-Sweeping Day. These two traditional customs have been handed down in China since ancient times and have never stopped.

The Cultural Connotation of Tomb-Sweeping Day

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the most solemn festival for ancestor worship of the Chinese nation, and it belongs to a traditional cultural festival for ancestor worship. Tomb-Sweeping Day embodies the national spirit, inherits the sacrificial culture of Chinese civilization, and expresses people's moral feelings of respecting and honoring their ancestors. Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, which originated from the ancestors' beliefs and spring sacrificial customs of early human beings.

According to the research results of modern anthropology and archaeology, the two most primitive beliefs of human beings are the belief in heaven and earth and the belief in ancestors. According to archaeological excavations, a 10,000-year-old tomb was found at the Qingtang site in Yingde, Guangdong Province, which is the earliest tomb in China, indicating that ancient ancestors had a clear sense of burial behavior and customs thousands of years ago.

The custom of "tomb sacrifice" has a long history. Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping sacrifice is the synthesis and sublimation of traditional spring customs. The formulation of ancient calendars provided a prerequisite for the formation of festivals. Ancestor belief and sacrificial culture are important factors in the formation of ancestral ritual customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day is rich in customs, which can be summarized into two major holiday traditions: one is to respect the ancestors and pursue the future cautiously; The second is outing and getting close to nature.