Is Tomb-Sweeping Day a traditional festival?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is not only a traditional festival in China, but also one of the four traditional festivals in China. Tomb-Sweeping Day, Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as outing festival, outing festival, March festival, ancestor worship festival, etc. It was celebrated at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ancestral belief and the custom of worshipping spring in ancient times, which has both natural and humanistic connotations. It is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival. Grave-sweeping and outing are the two major themes of Tomb-Sweeping Day etiquette and customs, and these two traditional themes have been passed down from ancient times to the present in China.

The main customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day

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.

Grave sweeping and ancestor worship. 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. Before the Tang Dynasty, grave-sweeping in some northern areas was mainly in the Cold Food Festival and the Cold Clothes Festival. It was not until the Tang and Song Dynasties that tomb-sweeping in Qingming began to prevail in the whole country. The Tang Dynasty was a period of integration of the custom of tomb sacrifice in different places, which followed the custom of tomb sacrifice in Qingming and extended to all parts of the country.