Clear and Bright Festival (Qingming Jie)-Chinese

Clear and Bright Festival (Qingming Jie)-Chinese

-All Souls's Day

Qingming is one of the twenty-four solar terms that the ancient Chinese gave to the twenty-four divisions of their year. Coming fifteen days later than the Spring Equinox, it falls around April. 5. this is the time people go out for the warm weather, clear bright sky and gentle breeze. Ti is a good time for plowing and sowing, too. Farmers have proverbs for this time of the year:"Melons and beans are sown around Qingming" and "Tree are planted no later than Qingming".

The Clear and Bright Festival originated in the spring and Autunm Period (770-476 B.C.). Historical books unearthed from tombs of the Warring States Perod( 475-221) B. C.) contain the earliest record of the festival. It was meant, it is said, to com-memorate Jie Zitui, a minister of Chong Er, son of Duke Xian of the State of Jin, one of the warring states. When chong Er was forced to live in exile, and he wished to eat some meat but none was available, Jie Zitui stealthily cut some flesh off his own arm and cooed it for him. Later Chong Er became the ruler and he gave orders to reward his followers. Not interested in wealth or position, Jie Zitui went with his mother to Mianshan Mountain in today's Shanxi Province and lived a secluded life there. It was the time of the year when Qingming is celebrated now. Chong Er, wanting to reward Jie Zitui with an important position, tried to find him in the great mountain but couldn't. So he set the mountain on fire, figuring that Jie Zitui would run out to save his life. Instead, Jie Zitui and his mother were burned to death, with their arms clinging to a scorched willow tree. Such a spirit, that would rather die than come out to enter officialdom, was highly praised. Later, on the day of his death every year, people did no make a fire in their kitchens but just ate prepared cold food. Gradually it became a custom. Thus today Qingming is also known as the "festival of eating things cold" and "no fire day".

Staring in the Qin (221-207 B.C.) and Han dynasties, it has also become the day when people go to sweep clean the graves of their ancestors and mourn the dead.

Also, in the Tangy Dynasty on this day, city inhabitants began going for an outing in the countryside, an affair know as Taqing, or treading on the green. The custom was most popular in the Song and Ming dynasties. The most frequented place was a riverside. The famous long horizontal scroll painting riverside Scenes at Qingming by Zhang zeduan in the song dynasty best depicts the busy, booming scene during the festival
Another old custom is "inserting willow twigs". Back from an outing, people break off some willow branches and carry them home to put into the house wall under the eaves, an act supposed to keep insects away. Insects away. People in Guangdong Province put willow twigs at the bottom of dry wells to keep evil spirits away. Women in Suzhou and Huangzhou make garlands of willow tree twigs and wear them on their heads as a wish for their youth to stay forever. This gae rise to a saying: "Wearing no willow rings on the day of Qingming, a young woman will son be growing gray."

During this festival there are also sports such as playing on swings, flying kites, a kind of anciet Chinese football, and cockfighting.

At nowadays, one of the most important parts of Chinese culture is the veneration and honoring of the dead. To honor your dead you must provide a long line of family, hence the importance of the family in Chinese culture. Among the offerings, "spirit money" (paper money) is often burnt, and it is said that during Qingming some true devotees actually scrub the bones of their loved ones.

Refer to http://www.tourroundchina.com/festival.htm#spring

清 明 Qing Ming
—杜 牧Du Mu ( Tang) —
qīngmíng shíjié yǔ fēnfēn
清 明 时 节 雨 纷 纷，
lù shang xíngrén yù duànhún
路 上 行 人 欲 断 魂。
jiè wèn jiǔjiā héchù yǒu
借 问 酒 家 何 处 有，
mùtong yáo zhǐ xìnghuā cūn
牧 童 遥 指 杏 花 村。
__
English translation:
The ceaseless drizzles drips all the dismal day,

So broken-hearted fares the traveler on the way.

When asked where could be found a tavern bower,

A cowboy points to yonder village of the apricot flower.