The main customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day

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. Grave-sweeping and outing are the two major themes of Tomb-Sweeping Day etiquette and customs, and these two traditional themes have been passed down from ancient times to the present in China.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is an ancient festival of the Chinese nation. It is not only a solemn festival to pay homage to ancestors, but also a happy festival for people to get close to nature, have an outing and enjoy the fun of spring. Douzhi B (or solar calendar reaches 15) is Tomb-Sweeping Day gas, and the node time is around April 5 of Gregorian calendar. At this time, the vitality is booming, the yin is declining, everything is "going to the old and welcoming the new", and the earth presents a scene full of spring, which is a good time to go for a walk in the spring and sweep the graves. Tomb-Sweeping Day, who worships his ancestors, is very long. There are two statements: 8 days before 10 and 10 days before 10. These nearly 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day who worships his ancestors.

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, Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. Besides China, some countries and regions in the world also have Tomb-Sweeping Day, such as Viet Nam, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. On May 20th, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Tomb-Sweeping Day announced by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Ministry of Culture was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, with both natural and humanistic connotations, is not only one of the "24 solar terms", but also a traditional festival for ancestor worship. "Twenty-four solar terms" is the product of ancient farming civilization, which is related to the time of gossip and has a long history. "Twenty-four solar terms" not only play a guiding role in agricultural production, but also affect the basic necessities of life and even cultural concepts of ancient people. In the early days of observing images and timing, bucket handle made a clockwise rotation according to the movement of stars, which was called one year old. Tian Yuan began in Yin, such as "Xun in Huainan", which says: "Emperor, transport troops to fight, move to his place once a month, the first month refers to Yin, December is ugly, turn around at the age of one, and start all over again". In traditional culture, the yin position is the "root position" of the acquired gossip, the position at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, representing the end and beginning. "Yi Shuo Gua Zhuan": "The root is also the divination in the northeast, and the beginning of all things." Therefore, the bucket handle of the Big Dipper starts from the month when the "Yin Jian" points to the northeast, and then rotates clockwise and repeats; The end of December refers to the ugly face, and the first month returns to the cloudy position and starts again. Beidou turns round, bucket handle returns to Yin, and Ganyuan stays for the Spring Festival. When bucket handle points to the "B" position due east and south, it is clear and clear. Tomb-Sweeping Day is full of air, everything is clean, full of vitality, and the temperature rises. The earth presents the image of spring and tranquility, which is a good time for spring outing and grave sweeping in the suburbs.

Tomb-Sweeping Day has also integrated into another earlier festival-Shangsi Festival. Shangsi Festival, commonly known as March 3rd. Shangsi Festival is the most important festival in ancient times. People go to the water to take a bath together, which is called "praise" Since then, sacrificial banquets, meandering water and outings have been added. In ancient times, "dry branches" were used as the Japanese standard, and the first day of early March was called "Shangsi". The word "Shangsi" first appeared in the literature of Han Dynasty. "Zhou Li" Zheng Xuan commented: "If you get rid of it when you are old, this is like water in March." After Wei and Jin Dynasties, the festival of Shangsi Festival was changed to the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, so it was also called "Chongsan" or "March 3".

Although Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, it became popular all over the country after the Tang and Song Dynasties and became a grave-sweeping festival. According to records, in the Tang Dynasty, because officials went back to their hometowns to sweep graves, they sometimes delayed their duty. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty issued a decree to solve the problem of holidays. At first, it was stipulated that the Cold Food Festival should have a four-day holiday: "February 21st in the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736):' Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival are holidays. "("Tang Yao Hui "Volume 82) According to the imperial edict of the 12th year of Dali (777), the yamen in the Tang Dynasty took a five-day holiday as the rule:" From now on, the cold food will be clear, and five days will be off. "In the sixth year of Zhenyuan (790), the holiday was increased to seven days. In this way, officials can calmly pay homage to the grave. Wang Lengran's Cold Food in the Tang Dynasty said: "Autumn is as expensive as wax, so it is better to eat cold food before spring." It can be seen that the Cold Food Festival has become a very grand festival in the Tang Dynasty.

Cold food and Qingming in the Song Dynasty also had seven days' holiday. Volume 1 of Pang Wenchang Magazine in the Northern Song Dynasty records: "Every 70-year-old ancestral temple has six days, and Yuan Day, cold food and winter are seven days each." In the Southern Song Dynasty, Chen Juan quoted Song Luyuan-ming's Miscellaneous Notes of the Year: "The first two days of Tomb-Sweeping Day were Cold Food Festival, which lasted for three days before and after, and rested for seven days. Civil fire ban 104 days, called private cold food, also known as big cold food. Northerners use this day to offer sacrifices first. There is a saying that there is no way out for the moon. " According to "Dream of Liang Lu" in the Song Dynasty, every time you go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, "officials go out to the tombs of the suburbs to show their respect for their thoughts." Grave-sweeping activities around Tomb-Sweeping Day often become the personal participation of the whole society. Within a few days, the country people came and went, and the scale was extremely prosperous.

1935, the government of the Republic of China designated April 5th as a national holiday in Tomb-Sweeping Day. On February 7, 2007, the 1 98th executive meeting of the State Council adopted a decision to amend the Measures for Holidays on National New Year's Day and Memorial Day, stipulating that "Tomb-Sweeping Day will have a holiday1day (the first day of the Lunar New Year will be clear); In 2008, Tomb-Sweeping Day officially became a legal holiday, with a day off; In 2009, holidays in Tomb-Sweeping Day, including holidays, were changed to three days.