Why does Tomb-Sweeping Day become a festival?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the twenty-four solar terms in China, and it is also an important sacrificial festival. Tomb-Sweeping Day, the tradition of the Chinese nation, began in the Zhou Dynasty.

According to legend, astronomers in the Zhou Dynasty used the method of "returning to the earth" to determine the solar terms, and Qingming is one of them. Later, Jin Wengong and Zhong Er designated the first three days of Tomb-Sweeping Day as the Cold Food Festival to commemorate the loyal minister Jiexiu. Because Tomb-Sweeping Day is close to the Cold Food Festival, Qingming has gradually integrated into the custom of ancestor worship at the Cold Food Festival. Tang Xuanzong directly packaged Tomb-Sweeping Day and Cold Food Festival into national legal holidays. Later, Tomb-Sweeping Day gradually absorbed the custom of going for an outing on the festival of thinking, and gradually rose from a simple agricultural solar term to an important festival.

As a traditional festival integrating solar terms and festivals, Tomb-Sweeping Day was also listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

As a traditional festival integrating solar terms and festivals, Tomb-Sweeping Day was also included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.