Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival of sacrifice. It is the day of ancestor worship and tomb sweeping. Tomb sweeping, commonly known as going to the grave, is an activity of offering sacrifices to the dead. So what are the customs of Qingming Festival all over the country? Let's take a look with Xiaobian.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Shanghai
The main activities of the Qingming Festival in Shanghai are tomb sweeping and outing. There are nearly ten million times of worshippers and sweepers around the Qingming Festival every year. Due to the reform and opening up to promote the prosperity of cemetery, and the relevant sites are mainly located in Suzhou, Jiaxing and other places in other provinces. As a result, the number of people going to the above areas reaches more than 1 million, which often causes traffic congestion out of the province in the days before and after Qingming Festival.
In addition, the Youth League is the Qingming snack in Jiangnan. Its main body is made of glutinous rice flour, which is blended with green wormwood (grass head juice) to form a green cake mass, usually filled with bean paste or sesame. They kept the habit of eating cold food. For Shanghainese, the Youth League is an indispensable offering for the Qing Ming Festival.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Hebei Province
In Hebei, the burning of paper money in Shangfen pays attention to "early Qingming, late 11 (lunar Ghost Festival)". Tomb sweeping and paper burning started a week before the Qingming Festival, and few people went to the Tomb Sweeping Day. Southern Hebei chose to sweep tombs on the day before the Qingming Festival.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Fujian
In Southern Fujian, tomb sweeping is not necessarily the only time. There are generally two kinds of tomb sweeping dates. Quanzhou custom is a few days before and after the Qingming Festival. Some people in Zhangzhou choose to sweep tombs near Shangsi Festival on the third day of March. Hakkas usually sweep tombs after the Spring Festival. The way is, after clearing the tomb environment (such as weeds and trees), first worship the land God, and then worship the ancestors. After the worship, a small stone is pressed on the tomb to represent that the tomb has been repaired. On the day of Qingming Festival, people usually don't cook food but eat cold moistened cakes, which is originated from the custom of cold food festival.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Sichuan
Sichuan Dujiangyan water release Festival ceremony, Li Bing and his son Qingming Festival (Erwangmiao Temple Fair) (Dujiangyan, Chengdu).
Customs of Qingming Festival in Shanxi Province
On Tomb Sweeping Day, most places in southern Shanxi don't burn incense or paper, and they have to hang money and other objects on the head of the tomb. There is a saying that the head of the tomb is white. The reason is that fire is forbidden during cold food festival, and Qingming Festival is during cold food festival. Most places in northern Shanxi have to burn up all the money and other things, because if they don't burn up, they won't be transferred to their ancestors. Datong and other places are used to going to the grave in the daytime and burning money and silk at home at night. In Hequ and other places in Northwest Shanxi Province, it is the old custom to bring wine and food to the grave to offer sacrifices to Bi's ancestors. They eat and drink in the grave, which means to drink and eat with their ancestors. In Wenxi and other places in southern Shanxi, jujube cakes are used to roll around the graves when they go to the grave. It is said that they are scratching for the dead old people. In Jiexiu and other places in Jinzhong, the offering to the grave was flour cake, which was like a snake. After going home, put the dough cakes in the courtyard, blow and dry them before eating. The reason why the old people pay attention to the treatment of diseases is due to the prohibition of cold food and fire.
After going to the grave in southern Shanxi, when you go home, you should pull out some wheat seedlings and put pine branches, cypress leaves or willows on the door to ward off evil spirits. In northern Shanxi, more willows were planted. There are also places where willows are planted on the graves.
In southern Shanxi, people want to steam big steamed buns with walnuts, red dates and beans, which is called Zifu. It's up to your ancestors to protect your descendants. Every family also need to make black bean jelly, cut into thin pieces and pour soup. Shovel withered Prinsepia grass and rub it on the Kang mat. It's called driving scorpion. In the southeast of Shanxi Province, willow branches and dead leaves were planted on everyone's head. Women should stick gold colored headdress on their temples. In northern Shanxi, it is customary to produce black bean sprouts and use corn bread filled with black bean sprouts. In Northwest Shanxi, millet flour is used to make cakes, commonly known as' Tan huang'er '. On the day after the Qingming Festival, Luliang district will pick up her daughter and invite her son-in-law, commonly known as' qingxinhuo'.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Taiwan
The Qingming Festival in Taiwan not only has the customs of the mainland, but also has its own characteristics. Qingming Festival, also known as March festival in ancient times, has a history of more than 2000 years, usually around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar. Because of the beautiful weather, fresh air, flowers blooming, everything reviving, the sky is clear and the earth is bright, so Qunfang Pu is called "Qingming" and has become an important traditional festival in China. In Taiwan, Tomb Sweeping Day is one of the most important festivals of the year. It is a public holiday. It means that people who don't go home to sweep tombs and Hang paper on Tomb Sweeping Day have no ancestors. Even those who are out of poverty and don't have travel expenses to go home will try their best to go home to sweep tombs on this day.
The Tomb Sweeping Day in Taiwan is also called Tomb Sweeping Day. Every family has to Hang paper and cultivate tombs on their ancestral graves. Generally, before the Qingming Festival, people are led by the elders of a family, carrying hoes, sickles, wine and sacrifices to the graves of their ancestors. There are two kinds of tomb sweeping ceremonies, namely 'hanging paper' and 'Pei tomb'. "Hanging paper" is called "paper pressing" and "Tomb pressing paper" in Taiwan Customs. Generally, rectangular yellow and white paper, or red, yellow, blue, white and black paper, is pressed on the grave with stones or bricks, indicating that the descendants have worshipped their ancestors. When hanging paper, use small stone or brick to press the paper on the grave, indicating that the grave has descendants. While sweeping tombs, we should also pay homage to the earth God (there is a small stone tablet) who has been standing by for a long time to guard the graveyard and the ancestors' anling. On the one hand, it is consolation, but also gratitude. Most of the time to cultivate tombs is on the eve of Tomb Sweeping Day. First, weeds growing on the tombs of our ancestors should be removed with hoes or sickles, and then they should be cultivated and renovated. If the characters on the tombstones are unclear, they must be re described to make them look brand new.
Customs of Qingming Festival in Wenzhou
In Wenzhou, there is a custom of eating miancai cake. As the name suggests, miancai cake is made of miancai, also known as Qingming cake.
Miancai is translated from Wenzhou dialect. Its scientific name is Qu rat grass, which is only available during the Qingming Festival. Making miancai cake is very particular. First, you have to go to the field to pick miancai. (miancai is not a kind of vegetable, but it will grow out of itself every Qingming Festival.) then you wash it, dry it, and put it into the mashing pot. (mashing pot is a tool made of stone, which used to be used in the past They are used to mash rice cakes, then add rice flour (usually eight Jin white rice flour, two Jin glutinous rice flour) and add appropriate amount of water. It's OK to blend all the soft vegetables into the rice flour evenly. After pouring, you have to prepare the stuffing. Stuffing is also one of the important processes. The most common process here is to use fresh bamboo shoots, tofu, pork, pickles (or shredded radish), When the stuffing is cold, you can wrap it. After wrapping the sponge cake, you must put a grapefruit leaf under it. First, avoid sticking to the pot. Second, it is also the most important because after putting the grapefruit, the sponge cake will have more grapefruit fragrance. It tastes better. After wrapping, you can steam it in the steamer for 25 minutes.
In many places, the sacrificial food is divided after the sacrificial ceremony. During the Qingming Festival, Jinnan people used to steam steamed buns with white flour. There were walnuts, dates and beans in the middle. The outside was in the shape of a dragon, and an egg in the middle of the dragon body, which was called Zifu. To steam a large total 'Zifu', a symbol of family reunion and happiness. When they go to the grave, they present the total "Zifu" to Zuling. After sweeping the grave, they share the food with the whole family. In the old custom of Shanghai, the steamed cakes used for sacrifice are run through with willow sticks, dried and stored. On the day of the beginning of summer, they are fried in oil and given to children. It is said that they will not get sick in summer.
Shandong
In Zhaoyuan, Jimo, Linqu, Linqing and other places, new soil should be added to the graves during the tomb sweeping. It is said that this is to build a house for ancestors to avoid rain leakage in summer. In Weihai, Qixia, Huangxian and other places, the whole people eat steamed bread and dishes together after sacrificing their ancestors' graves, which is called 'Fang Shi' or 'Yi she'. Northern Shandong also retains the custom of fighting chickens in the northern and Southern Dynasties. Bin county children, in this day to boil hot eggs top each other, who eggs first broken, who is lost. Qishan, Boshan and other places cooked a pot of millet dry rice on the Qingming Festival to let the cattle have a good meal, which is called 'rice cattle'. There is a proverb: "a thousand curses, a meal at Qingming.".
Henan Province
During the Qingming Festival in Gongxian County, the son-in-law also sacrificed to the ancestral grave of the Yue family. People offer sacrifices to Qingmiao, Niuwang and Hongshan gods. The Qingming Festival in Mengjin County planted young crops in wheat fields.
Shaanxi
During the Qingming Festival in Xingping County, the in laws presented paper money to each other and paid homage to each other's tombs. Every family in Fuping County asked for the spring water of famous mountains during the Qingming Festival. It's called "swimming water" to prepare sacrifices to pray for a good harvest. After the Qingming Festival in Tongzhou County, the willow branches were broken and inserted into the door, and the paper money was pasted on the tree trunk, which is said to be able to prevent insects and ants. Luochuan County Qingming steamed bun for food, steamed bun around the shape of birds and snakes for decoration. It is said that there were birds and snakes protecting Jiezi when he pushed up Mianshan mountain, so it was used as a memorial.
Jiangsu Province
Farmers in Taizhou hold a boat race on the Qingming Festival, which is called "supporting boat". Zhenjiang people make tea with seven pieces of willow leaves. It is said that they can see clearly after drinking it. In Dantu County, the old custom of cold 'WangMian' (Mianshan) is still preserved among the villagers near the Mianshan mountain.
Anhui
Huizhou government made wine in taoxinquan during the Qingming Festival. On the Qingming Festival in Guichi County, women made rice cocoons as sacrifices to silkworm aunt, praying for a good harvest. The Qingming Festival in Jingxian county is called "the festival of inserting willows". Shouchun Qingming, the family inserted willows, and hanging paper money in the tomb tree, known as' wild ghosts'.
Hunan
It's called 'chronicle of time'. Yongzhou Prefecture draws water in the early morning of Qingming Festival. After several months, the taste and color remain unchanged, so it is better to make wine. Xintian County Agricultural proverb: "qingmingqing, everything into.".
Hubei
March: Tomb Sweeping Day, tomb sweeping, outing, planting willow branches in the tomb.