What is the Qingming Festival？

Have you ever heard of the Qingming (say “ching-ming”) Festival? It’s also known as Grave Sweeping Day. It is a special Chinese festival that honours family ancestors and has been celebrated for over 2,500 years.

The festival is celebrated during the first week of April, based on the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar (a calendar using both the phases and positions of the moon and the sun to determine the date).

TChing Ming Festival is one of the important traditional Chinese festivals, which originated in the Spring and Autumn and warring States period and is related to the story of Chong’er, the Duke of Wen, and his loyal minister Jie Ziti. In order to save the Chong’er, Jie Zitui cut a piece of meat from his thigh and boiled it into broth for him to eat. Later, Chong’er became king, but forgot Jie Zitui, who chose to live in seclusion. In order to let the meson push out of the mountain, Chong’er even ordered the fire to burn Mianshan, but Jie Zitui was determined not to come out of the mountain and eventually died in the fire. This story later became the origin of Ching Ming Festival.

Ching Ming Festival also has his own specific customs, mainly including:

1. Grave-sweeping: during the period of Ching Ming Festival, people will go to the graveyard of their ancestors to worship and visit their graves to express their respect and thoughts for their ancestors.

2.. Outing: also known as spring outing, it is a traditional activity for people to go out for an outing during the Qingming Festival to enjoy the beauty of spring.

3. Tree planting: it is a time of bright spring before and after the Qingming Festival, which is suitable for planting trees, so there is also the custom of planting trees.

4. Swing: swing is a sport created by ethnic minorities in the north of ancient China, and later became a folk custom in festivals such as Qingming Festival.

5. Flying kites: during the Qingming Festival, people will fly kites, which is a popular activity, especially at night, small colored lanterns will be hung under the kites, which is very beautiful.

Ching Ming Festival is not only a festival for offering sacrifices to ancestors, but also a festival for being close to nature and enjoying the fun of spring.Ruiyuan Company also has a day off to accompany its family. After a short break, we will return to work and continue to work with you. Providing high-quality enameled copper wire and services is our constant goal.