What is the origin and significance of Tomb-Sweeping Day?

The festival, also known as the picnic festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, is held at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. This is the day 108 after the traditional festival in China, and it is the day 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, Tujia, Miao and Yao, 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, only related to farming, not a festival. It has become a festival to commemorate ancestors and is related to the Cold Food Festival. Just because it was after the Cold Food Festival, it gradually overlapped and then faded away. Qingming has both natural connotation and humanistic connotation, which is both a natural solar term point.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional major Spring Festival. It is a fine tradition of the Chinese nation for thousands of years to sweep graves and cherish the memory of ancestors. It is not only conducive to promoting filial piety and family memory, but also conducive to promoting the cohesion and identity of family members and even the nation. The culture of Qingming etiquette and custom fully embodies the humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation of respecting ancestors and cautiously pursuing the future.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is not only a solemn festival to pay homage to ancestors, but also a happy festival for people to get close to nature, travel and enjoy the fun of spring.