What are the customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Go hiking, plant trees, fly kites, sweep graves to worship ancestors, insert willows, tug-of-war, swing, chicken fight, shoot willows and cuju. Because the cold food custom of the Cold Food Festival was transplanted to Tomb-Sweeping Day, some parts of southern China have the custom of eating green meatballs, and some parts of northern China still retain the habit of eating cold food in Tomb-Sweeping Day. In Shandong, Jimo eats eggs and cool cakes, while Laiyang, Zhaoyuan and Long Island eat eggs and cool sorghum rice. In the hometown of overseas Chinese in southern Fujian, every time we go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, we will make some cakes, cakes and rice noodles for our families to eat before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to the old custom in Shanghai, steamed cakes for sacrifice should be put on wicker and dried and stored. In Huzhou and Tomb-Sweeping Day, Zhejiang, every family makes zongzi, which can be used as a grave-sweeping sacrifice or as dry food for hiking.

1, outing

The Chinese nation has had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming since ancient times. At the turn of mid-spring and late spring, Tomb-Sweeping Day is full of spring and everything is full of vitality. It is a traditional custom handed down from ancient times to pay homage to ancestors and go hiking at this time.

2. plant trees?

Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring was bright and the spring rain was falling, and the survival rate of planted seedlings was high and the growth was fast. So there is a habit of planting trees in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and some people call Tomb-Sweeping Day Arbor Day. The custom of planting trees has been passed down to this day. The custom of planting trees in Tomb-Sweeping Day is said to have originated from the custom of crossing willows and inserting willows in Qingming Festival.

Step 3 fly a kite

Kites are also called "paper kites" and "kites". Flying kites is the most popular activity in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Kite is an aircraft that sticks paper or silk with bamboo strips and other skeletons, pulls a long line on it, and drops it into the sky under the action of wind. It belongs to an aircraft that only uses aerodynamic force.

4. Sweeping graves to worship ancestors

The custom of sweeping graves to worship ancestors has a long history, dating back to the pre-Qin period. Due to different ancient customs, some places are not necessarily on the occasion of Qingming.

Step 5 insert willow

Tomb-Sweeping Day and China have the folk custom of inserting willows. People in the Tang Dynasty believed that wearing willow branches when offering sacrifices by the river on March 3 could get rid of the harm of poisonous insects. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day was very popular. When people come back from an outing, they stay at home to avoid insects.

6. Tug of War

Tug of war was called "tug of war" in the early days and "strong hook" in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that it was invented at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began to prevail in the military and later spread among the people. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, a large tug-of-war was held in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Since then, tug-of-war has become a part of the Qingming custom. ?

Step 7 swing

Swing is one of the customs of ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day in China. Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" in the Five Dynasties recorded that "the Tianbao Palace Mid-solstice Cold Food Festival actually erected a swing, which made the wives and concubines in the palace laugh and thought it was a feast.

8. cockfighting

In ancient times, cockfighting competitions prevailed in Qingming, which began in Qingming and lasted until the summer solstice. The earliest record of cockfighting in China can be found in Zuo Zhuan. In the Tang Dynasty, cockfighting became a common practice, not only among the people, but also among the emperors. For example, Tang Xuanzong likes cockfighting best.

9. shoot willow trees

Shooting willow is a game to practice archery. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, pigeons were placed in gourds, then the gourds were hung high on willow trees, and the gourds and pigeons flew out with bows, and the victory or defeat was judged by the height of the flying pigeons.

10, cuju

Bow is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju is kicking the ball with your feet. This is the favorite game of northerners in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor with the original purpose of training warriors. Polo is riding a horse and hitting with a stick. In ancient times, it was called bowing.

Customs in various parts of China.

In Guangdong, sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day is called sweeping mountains, worshiping mountains and worshiping the Qing Dynasty. During the Qingming Festival, the images of spring and tranquility appeared in Guangdong. Grave-sweeping and outing are the main custom themes of Cantonese festivals. The Qingming custom in Hong Kong and Macao is roughly the same as that in Guangdong.

In Zhejiang, Qingming Festival is commonly known as sweeping Qingming Festival, or "offering graves" to worship Tai Gong.

The customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day are different in all parts of Jiangsu Province. Taizhou people hold a boat race in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is called "supporting the boat". Zhenjiang people use seven willow leaves to make tea, which is said to improve eyesight. On the day when Fang Maoshan in Wujin County took Qingming as the incarnation of the dragon mother, the villagers rushed to pray for blessings. Xuzhou people sweep graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called "Mausoleum" (the pronunciation of Mausoleum is "Lin", which means Mausoleum). Tomb-Sweeping Day is coming, Xuzhou people will worship their ancestors with their families, not later than the day of Tomb-Sweeping Day. When Tomb-Sweeping Day went to the grave, he not only listed wine, set dishes, burned incense and made paper to worship his ancestors, but also added soil to the ancestral grave. Tomb-Sweeping Day in Xuzhou not only eats steamed vegetables and dumplings, but also inserts willows, goes to graves to worship ancestors, hides bones, sweeps "gold and silver ashes" and goes for an outing in the spring.

The main activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day are grave-sweeping and hiking, and the number of people traveling around Tomb-Sweeping Day every year is nearly 10 million.

Tomb-Sweeping Day customs in different areas of Anhui Province are also different. In Guichi County, Tomb-Sweeping Day, women make rice cocoons to worship silkworms and pray for a good harvest. Jingxian County is called Tomb-Sweeping Day; Shouchun Qingming, every family inserted willow, hanging paper money on the grave tree, called wild ghost; Every household in Hefei is used to hanging willow branches above the door, offering sacrifices to the deceased ancestors in the cemetery and going for an outing in the suburbs. Apart from ancestor worship and grave sweeping, Tomb-Sweeping Day also has a series of customary sports activities, such as hiking, swinging, cuju, polo and willow planting.

Hainanese also have a folk tradition of reciting ancestral teachings and family rules when they worship their ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

According to the custom in Guangxi, sweeping graves at night is taboo.

The hometown of overseas Chinese in southern Fujian attaches great importance to Tomb-Sweeping Day. The custom of Tomb-Sweeping Day in southern Fujian is a folk tradition, and its main activity is to visit graves to worship ancestors.

In Zhaoyuan, Jimo, Linqu, Linqing and other places in Shandong, new soil should be added to the graves during Qingming. It is said that this is to repair the house for ancestors to avoid leaking rain in summer.

In Changsha, Hunan Province, grave-sweeping is called "hanging mountain" and "seven days after the first three days", that is, the first three days and the last seven days in Tomb-Sweeping Day are grave-sweeping periods.

In Hubei, the customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day vary from city to city. Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of hanging paper.

Customs vary from place to place in Yunnan. In some places, before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the family will invite dozens of people and a group to buy good food, bring pots and pans, set out early in the morning, and find a clearing on the mountain to start cooking. At noon, we will provide wine, food and fruit to the grave, burn some paper money, kowtow and salute to commemorate our ancestors.

In eastern Sichuan and Wanzhou, Chongqing, there was a custom of going to the wild grave in the old days.

There are also differences in Jiangxi province, such as the choice of time. Grave-sweeping in Yongfeng County lasts for "the first three days and then seven days" in Tomb-Sweeping Day, while Jiujiang is used to sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day for the first three days and then four days, which is called "the first three days and then four days". Most people in Yuanzhou choose to sweep graves on the third day of the third lunar month. Only a few people who go out to work will go home to visit their graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The "Qingming food" used by Tomb-Sweeping Day, an old Guiyang man, when sweeping the grave is often cakes, bean jelly, cold noodles stewed vegetables and cold dishes; Pot helmet with stewed vegetables and cold dishes. People not only bring paper money and incense sticks to the grave, but also bring a string of paper cut from paper and hang it in front of the grave to evoke spirits, commonly known as "hanging green"

In Qingming, Xingping County, Shaanxi Province, the in-laws gave each other paper money and visited each other's graves.

Qinghai people have some unique customs when they visit Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day of Qinghai people began after the vernal equinox, commonly known as "Tian She".

Flower memorial, tree planting memorial, memorial writing memorial and network memorial have gradually become the fashion of Qingming Festival in Gansu.

In most places south of Shangfen in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Shanxi Province, incense and paper are not burned, and things like money should be hung in front of the grave. There is a saying that "the Qingming Festival goes up to the river and the picture is white".

Hebei pays attention to "Qingming early, eleven nights" when sweeping graves and burning paper money.

Yanbian and Dragon Boat Festival have the custom of eating cakes.

In Beijing, besides sweeping graves, there are activities such as hiking, inserting willows and flying kites.

In Gongxian County, Henan Province, the son-in-law also offered sacrifices to the ancestral graves of Yue family. People offer sacrifices to young crops, ox king and Hongshan God. In Mengjin County, during the Qingming Festival, seedlings are being planted in the wheat field.

The custom of people sweeping graves in Taiwan Province Province can be roughly divided into two types: one is sweeping graves in general, with simple rituals and sacrifices, and most of them are just rice cakes, cakes and cakes; The second is to repair the ancestral graves, and the sacrifices are also quite grand. Sacrifice generally includes all kinds of sacrifices, twelve kinds of vegetables, cakes and so on.

Foreign customs

In the early years, Indonesian Chinese mostly worshipped their ancestors in the ancestral hall of Baijia surname. As each surname has its own ancestral temple, people gather in the hall to worship their ancestors.

Malaysian Chinese never forget to pay homage to their ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day is not a public holiday in Malaysia.

Similarly, Singapore and Tomb-Sweeping Day, where Chinese are the majority, are not public holidays. In Singapore, Tomb-Sweeping Day's main memorial ceremony is to sweep the grave. Grave-sweeping is the earliest custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which continues to this day and is gradually simplified with the progress of society. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Chinese Singaporeans will travel with their families. Children and grandchildren will first prune the graves of their ancestors and the weeds around them, then put wine, fruits and flowers on the graves of their relatives, light incense sticks, burn paper money, kowtow, and finally go home with wine.

During his stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Chinese History Society of Southern California held an annual event to commemorate Chinese ancestors, calling on Chinese people not to forget their contributions in opening up territory in California. The local people in China hold the annual commemoration of Tomb-Sweeping Day in different ways.

Refer to the above? Baidu Encyclopedia-Tomb-Sweeping Day