Customs of Liuhe Tomb-Sweeping Day

Tomb-Sweeping Day custom in Liuhe: sweeping graves.

They call sweeping graves "hanging paper", "filling graves" and "going to graves". Tomb-Sweeping Day, a native of Liuhe, visited the grave, and the sacrifices were generally whole chicken, salted fish, tofu, pork belly, wine, tea, biscuits, toilet paper (called gold paper and money), yin coins, candles, incense and firecrackers.

The process is as follows: firstly, cut down the miscellaneous trees and weeds on and around the cemetery and clean up the cemetery; Then sprinkle toilet paper on the top of the cemetery, then place sacrifices, light incense sticks and pour tea and wine; Then, read out the invitation to God, and the ancestors were invited to enjoy the offering. The invitation to God is usually read by the elders in the family.

After three rounds of tea and wine, the toilet paper was burned first, saying that it was burned for ancestors to enjoy; After burning the toilet paper, set off firecrackers; When all this is done, you can take back the sacrifice. After taking the sacrifice home, the whole family will have dinner together and eat it. Pork belly is generally used to cook Hakka pickles.

On the way home, grave-sweepers were stopped and given cakes or sweets. This practice is called "playing tricks". The original meaning of "ceremony" is sacrifice, which is an ancient etiquette; "Beating" refers to a sacrificial activity in which Taoist priests set up altars to do things for people and seek happiness and eliminate disasters. "Meng" may come from "Menglanben Festival", that is, the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional festival for offering sacrifices to ghosts in Buddhism and Taoism, so it is also called "Ghost Festival".