What are the customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Yiwu?

Go for an outing: In rural Tomb-Sweeping Day, Yiwu, men, women and children get up early and go for a walk in the wild, which is called "going for an outing" and "gathering energy".

Willows: people will take some willow branches after going out for an outing and put them on the doors and windows of their homes, indicating that you will bring home the breath of spring. During the Qingming Festival, willows are inserted in doors and windows, children wear willow rings, and women use onions as flowers, mixed with bean leaves.

Grave-sweeping: The most important thing for Tomb-Sweeping Day is to go to the ancestral grave to sweep the grave, offer paper, drain water and add soil, and express grief. In Yiwu, grave sweeping can be carried out three days before the festival and four days after the festival.

Making Qingming Soup: Another important custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day is to pick green leaves in the wild around Qingming, wash and mash the tender leaves of wormwood, add glutinous rice flour and indica rice flour, and knead them into triangular or round Qingming Soup. Its fillings are sweet and salty. There are also handy villagers who knead glutinous rice green balls into animal shapes and dry them, calling them Qingming sheep and Qingming cattle, and then fry the beans in summer to eat.

Qingming Lantern Festival: Yiwu Dragon Lantern Festival is mainly held during the Spring Festival, and all participants are adults. However, there is another kind of dragon lantern called Qingming Lantern, which is mainly performed by children in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Dragon lanterns and light boards are smaller than ordinary ones. There are at least two Qingming Lantern Festival activities this year, one in Lizu Village, Houzhai Street, and one in Xinyuan Village, Suxi Town, both on the evening of April 2.

Eat Qingming snails: Qingming is the best season to eat snails, because snails have not yet propagated and are the most fat. As the saying goes in Yiwu, "Eating Qingming snails is not as good as topping geese", which shows that Qingming snails are rich in nutritional value.

Shave your head: In Yiwu dialect, "clean head" and "smart head" are homophonic, so there is a custom of shaving your child's head (smart head).

Grab the green: In the early morning of Tomb-Sweeping Day, people used to drive cattle and sheep to graze in the fields and grab grass seeds (Chinese milk vetch). People can cut a basket of grass seeds at will in the field and go home. Even if the householder sees it, he will never discourage interference, which is commonly known as "grabbing the green".