The traditional way of offering sacrifices at Qingming in various places

In the old days, Linze's sacrificial customs were mainly God-sacrifice, ancestor-sacrifice and Confucius-sacrifice.

Sacrifice to the gods. Every year in March of the lunar calendar, "Qingming Festival", Polygon Spring, Shahe, Panchiao and other places held "City God" out of the House parade of sacrificial activities. The meaning is that the city god out of the house to inspect the good and evil on earth, the activities by the local head of the annual rotation of hosts, please Taoist priests blowing and reciting scriptures, with eight palanquins will be the temple of the wooden city god (idol) carried out, the front and back support, sounding a gong to open the way. Polygon will be sent to the idol of the city west of the Palace, Sand River to the city's east gate outside the temporary set up colorful shed; Board Bridge will be sent to the puppet City God Xiban Temple, North Bay Temple three days of worship, and then lifted back to place the original place. It is said that the wooden City God in the Fort of Panchiao shoes are worn out, clothes worn out. The actual all rats did.

The original Tateshima County in the annual "summer" the day before, to be held to sacrifice "wind god" activities. The ceremony was held at night. Activities sponsored by the county government, the location of the grassy beach outside the west gate. During the day, Taoist priests chanting, the evening by the governor himself to officiate, but also by the police to bring a prison inmates in custody. Set up a hall burning incense, kowtow, read the text of the sacrifice, the prisoners to the pit dug before, by the "executioner" holding a knife pretending to show that the head of the prisoners cut off, the actual head of a pig or goat instead of the head, thrown into the pit to bury, and then take the prisoners back to the prison. The intention is to "live" sacrificed to the God of the wind, praying for "summer" and then do not blow a gale, wishing that year's crop harvest. Ancestral sacrifice. March "Qingming", July 15 for the memorial day of the ancestors (previously mentioned). Some of the famous prosperous family, in honor of the ancestors of the day, in the graveyard to renew the genealogy, genealogy, some to re-establish the "family rules", such as the descendants of the cattle stole the horse thing to do, to be punished in the graveyard, some of the stick to beat the forty, and some of the graveyard to be a penalty of kneeling in the child for an hour, to play a warning of the role of the future generations.

Some people who go out or away from home for several years, decades, return to their hometowns, no matter when to the grave to burn paper offerings, called "talk about the first ancestor". Some of the rich families making money outside, for the glory of the ancestors, show parents, not hesitate to spend hundreds, thousands of silver, rebuild ancestral graves, reburied ancestors, please full of monks and Taoist superdeath, but also a feast for the guests, the momentum of the remarkable, so that the neighbors envy.

Worship Confucius. August 27 of the lunar calendar for the birthday of Confucius, schools around the world (mainly secondary schools or township centers), Confucian gentry gathered together to hold commemorative activities. Polygon, Shahe in the Wenchang Palace or the Temple, some in the "Kuixing building", most of the school held. Set up an altar, enshrined in the "Dacheng to the holy master Kong Xuan Wang" tablet, Confucian gentry according to the order of elders, juniors arranged in order to burn incense and bow to worship. By the choristers read out the rituals, such as Qin music, sounding the cannon, dedication of offerings, read the text of the sacrifice, burning incense, the table and so on. Higher social status is elected as the chief priest, presiding over the ritual activities, the cost of which is generally shared by the people, but also the participants of the burden.

In addition, there are also sacrifices to the Dragon King, sacrifices to the God of the Land, sacrifices to the God of the Stove, sacrifices to the God of Wealth and other activities in rural areas. There are also a variety of rituals in temples, temples, shrines and temples around the world. The intention is to pray for peace, blessing a party, the wind and rain, or eliminate disasters and diseases. In addition, there are carpenters sacrificing to Lu Ban, blacksmiths sacrificing to Laojun, felt makers sacrificing to Yinxian, and buyers and sellers sacrificing to the God of Wealth. There are also oil house, vinegar house, dyeing house, tanner, shoemaker, hanging noodles, etc., are each sacrificed to the Lord, not a detailed description.

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The Ching Ming Festival is a traditional festival in China and the most important festival of worship, a day of ancestor worship and grave sweeping. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as visiting the graves, an activity to honor the dead. Most Han Chinese and some ethnic minorities sweep their tombs on Qingming Day.

According to the old custom, when sweeping tombs, people should bring wine, food, fruits, paper money and other items to the graveyard, offer the food in front of their loved ones' graves, then incinerate the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, fold a few young green branches and stick them on the graves, and then kowtow and worship, and then eat the wine and food and go home at last. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Qingming": "The rain falls one after another during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Where can I find a tavern? The shepherd boy points to the apricot blossom village." The poem "Ching Ming" describes the special atmosphere of Ching Ming Festival. Tomb-sweeping is one of the earliest customs of the Qingming Festival, which has been continued to this day and gradually simplified with the progress of society. On the day of sweeping the tomb, the children and grandchildren first will be the ancestors of the grave and around the weeds to repair and clean up, and then offer food and flowers and so on.

As cremation has become more and more common, the practice of visiting places where ashes are kept to pay respects to the deceased is gradually replacing the practice of grave-sweeping.

The Chinese in Singapore also erected shrines for the dead in temples, which became places for ancestor worship during the Ching Ming Festival.

Some people also worship their ancestors at home on Ching Ming Day.

On the day of Ching Ming, one can bow in silence before the gravesite of the ancestors, the place where the ashes are placed, or in front of the shrine in the temple.

Regardless of the form of remembrance, the most basic ritual of the Qingming Festival is to memorialize the ancestors at the gravesite, the place where the ashes are deposited, or at the shrine. To make the ceremony more meaningful, we should let the younger generation of family members know about the past struggles of their ancestors.

The Qingming Festival, also known as the Treading Green Festival, according to the solar calendar, it is between April 4 and 6 every year, it is the bright and beautiful spring time when the grass and trees spit out the green, it is also the good time for people to go on spring trips (called trekking in ancient times), so the ancients had the custom of trekking on the Qingming Festival and carrying out a series of sports activities.

Till today, the Qingming Festival to pay homage to ancestors, mourning the deceased relatives of the custom is still very prevalent.

Sweeping the graves at Qingming is a custom related to funeral rites. It is reported that in ancient times, "the tomb but not the grave", that is to say, only hit the grave pit, not to build a mound, so the cleaning is not seen in the book. Later on, the tomb and the grave, the custom of cleaning will have a basis. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, the tomb festival has become an indispensable ritual and customary activities.

The Han Book - Yan Yan Nian biography of the Yan even if the capital of thousands of miles away from the Qingming "return to the East China Sea to sweep the tomb". In terms of Chinese ancestor worship and the development of a strong sense of kinship, Yan Yan Nian's actions are reasonable. Therefore, later generations did not include the ancient norms of the tomb sacrifice into the five rites: "the common people's homes, it is appropriate to allow the tomb, into the five rites, forever as a regular pattern." With the official recognition, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to flourish.

The Qingming Festival is a festival to honor ancestors. The main commemorative ritual is to sweep the graves, which is a concrete expression of the prudence of the end of the day, the unity of family and filial piety, based on the above significance, the Qingming Festival has become an important festival of the Chinese people.

The Qingming Festival falls on the 106th day after the winter solstice, at the intersection of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-sweeping activities usually take place 10 days before or 10 days after the Ching Ming Festival. Some people of this origin have tomb-sweeping activities for as long as a month.

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