Qingming Festival

Qingming
Burning paper gifts for the departed.
Official nameQingming Jie (清明节)
Ching Ming Festival (清明節)
Tomb Sweeping Day (掃墓節)
Observed byChinese, Chitty[1] and Ryukyuans
TypeCultural, Asian
SignificanceCommemoration of the remembering of ancestors
ObservancesCleaning and sweeping of graves, ancestor worship, offering food to deceased, burning joss paper
Date15th day after March equinox (between April 4 and April 6)
2023 date5 April[2]
2024 date4 April[3]
2025 date4 April[4]
First time732 (732)
Qingming Festival
Traditional Chinese清明節
Simplified Chinese清明节
Literal meaning"Pure Brightness Festival"

The Qingming Festival[5] or Ching Ming Festival,[6] also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day, Ancestors' Day, the Clear Brightness Festival, or the Pure Brightness Festival),[7][8][9][10] is a traditional Chinese festival observed by ethnic Chinese in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. A celebration of spring,[10][11] it falls on the first day of the fifth solar term (also called Qingming) of the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, either 4, 5 or 6 April in a given year.[12][13][14] During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors.[9] Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper.[9][10][15] The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture.[9]

The origins of the Qingming Festival go back more than 2500 years, although the observance has changed significantly. It became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008, where it is associated with the consumption of qingtuan,[16] green dumplings made of glutinous rice and Chinese mugwort or barley grass.

In Taiwan, the public holiday was in the past observed on 5 April to honor the death of Chiang Kai-shek on that day in 1975, but with Chiang's popularity waning, this convention is not being observed. A confection called caozaiguo or shuchuguo, made with Jersey cudweed, is consumed there.

A similar holiday is observed in the Ryukyu Islands, called Shīmī in the local language.[17]

  1. ^ "Meet the Chetti Melaka, or Peranakan Indians, striving to save their vanishing culture". Channel News Asia. 21 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Qingming Festival – April 5, 2023". National Today. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  3. ^ "Qingming Festival". National Today. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  4. ^ "Qingming Festival". National Today. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Qingming Festival". Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  6. ^ "108 years of Ching Ming Festival continuous holiday traffic evacuation information". Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration. 25 March 2019.
  7. ^ "General holidays for 2015". GovHK. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  8. ^ "Macau Government Tourist Office". Macau Tourism. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  9. ^ a b c d Wei, Liming (2010). Chinese Festivals: Traditions, Customs and Rituals (Second ed.). Beijing. pp. 31–35. ISBN 9787508516936.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ a b c Stepanchuk, Carol (1991). Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts: Festivals of China. San Francisco: China Books & Periodicals. pp. 61–70. ISBN 0-8351-2481-9.
  11. ^ Eberhard, Wolfram (1952). "Ch'ing-ming, the spring festival". Chinese Festivals. New York: H. Wolff. pp. 112–127.
  12. ^ "Traditional Chinese Festivals". china.org.cn. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Tomb Sweeping Day". Taiwan.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  14. ^ "Ching Ming Festival | Hong Kong Tourism Board".
  15. ^ "Why Chinese Burn Paper on Tomb-Sweeping Day". The Beijinger. 2 April 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  16. ^ "Across China: Sticky rice balls make tradition "stickier" for young Chinese". Xinhua. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  17. ^ "Festivals and Rituals of Okinawa – Seimei Ritual (Shiimii) –". www.wonder-okinawa.jp. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2022.

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