Eric Kozlowski's Blog
Tuesday Apr 01, 2008
Qingming Festival
This year in China one of our official holidays is the Qingming Festival, so we get Friday this week off. This page and this page give a good explanation of how this holiday came into existence.
From the Wikipedia entry:
For the Chinese, it is a day to remember and honour one's ancestors at grave sites. Young and old pray before the ancestors, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks, (joss) paper accessories, and/or libation to the ancestors. The rites are very important to most Chinese and especially farmers. Some people carry willow branches with them on Qingming, or put willow branches on their gates and/or front doors. They think that willow branches help ward off the evil ghosts that wander on Qingming. Also on Qingming, people go on family outings, start the spring plowing, sing, dance, and Qingming is a time where young couples start courting. Another popular thing to do is fly kites (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera).
Posted at 08:49AM Apr 01, 2008 by erick in China |
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