When is Qingming?

Qingming, one of the 24 solar terms, means clean and bright. It means that there is much rain, clean air, rising temperature and plenty of sunshine during this period.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is one of the traditional festivals and one of the most important sacrificial festivals in China. It is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, the first 108 day after the winter solstice. This is the day to worship ancestors and sweep graves.

The meaning of solar terms

Tomb-Sweeping Day gas point: Dou refers to B; The solar calendar is15; Gregorian calendar April 4-6. The "Twenty-four solar terms" were originally determined by the direction of the top of the bucket handle of the Big Dipper. The bucket handle starts from the "female" position and then rotates clockwise. When bucket handle points to the "second position", it is the spirit of Qingming.

From the Han Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, the solar terms were divided by the "average time method", and the period from winter solstice to winter solstice of the following year was divided into 24 segments (each segment was 15 days), with winter solstice as the starting point of the "24 solar terms"; Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi is counted from the winter, that is, the first 105 day after winter.

The current "twenty-four solar terms" come from the "fixed air method" concluded more than 300 years ago (used since 1645), which is determined according to the position of the sun on the ecliptic. When the solar calendar reaches 15, it is the node of Tomb-Sweeping Day.