What are the customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Viet Nam is one of the few countries in the world that use the lunar calendar like China. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a day for Vietnamese folk to sweep graves and hike. The third day of the third lunar month is the Cold Food Festival. Cold food is eating cold food. This festival also originated in China and was later introduced to Viet Nam. According to the custom in China, Vietnamese people also celebrate the Cold Food Festival, which is not only to commemorate Jiexiu's loyalty, but also an opportunity to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. However, Vietnamese people don't ban smoking and eat cold food during the Cold Food Festival, and they don't need to cook all kinds of food on the first day. There are also two kinds of food in the Cold Food Festival, Yuanxiao and Tangyuan. The Vietnamese say that March is the season of Yuanxiao and Tangyuan, because the Vietnamese began to eat Yuanxiao and Tangyuan in March. Vietnamese Yuanxiao and Tangyuan are also made of glutinous rice flour, but their tastes and eating methods are different, and they are also different from those in China. Vietnamese Lantern Festival is filled with rock sugar, which is smaller than China Lantern Festival. Yuanxiao fell into boiling water, and after several ups and downs, it was cooked, picked up and put into a small plate. There is mung bean stuffing in Vietnamese jiaozi. Mung beans are cooked, peeled and mashed, and then wrapped in jiaozi for stuffing. Jiaozi cooked with boiling water, not on the plate, but in a bowl, with sugar water to eat. In the past, Vietnamese people did not eat Yuanxiao and Tangyuan before the third day of March. Because only from the Cold Food Festival on the third day of the third lunar month, Yuanxiao and Tangyuan were used to worship ancestors. Out of reverence for gods and ancestors, food is offered every season, and people can't eat this food by themselves before offering it. Nowadays, in cities in Vietnam, few people celebrate the Cold Food Festival. But the custom of eating Yuanxiao and Tangyuan in March continues. In the street, people can also see many women selling Yuanxiao and Tangyuan.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the fifth of the 24 solar terms in a year, 45 days after beginning of spring. Qingming is usually in March of the lunar calendar, and at the latest in early April of the lunar calendar. Qingming means that the air is fresh and the sun is shining, which is a wonderful time of the year. Orientals regard Qingming as an important festival in a year. Like China, Vietnamese also use Tomb-Sweeping Day to sweep graves and hike. People bring shovels, flowers, incense and paper money to repair graves, remove weeds from graves, burn incense and paper, and some even offer flowers. Many places also have the custom of setting off firecrackers when sweeping graves. When the spring is bright, people's spring outing activities are also very lively. Some key tourist areas are crowded with people.