Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

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Welcome to Fascinating Facts and Tantalizing Trivia

A Hartson Dowd Column

April 11, 2007

Chinese Ching Ming Festival

Ching Ming Festival is one of the 24 segments in Chinese calendar.   It normally falls on the 4th or 5th of April because it's depended on the Cold Food Day (105 days after previous year's winter solstice).  In the old days, Ching Ming was celebrated 3 days after the Cold Food Day but Cold Food Day was shorted to one day and then abandoned.  So nowadays, Ching Ming and Cold Food Day fall on the same day although no one celebrates Cold Food Day any more.  Ching Ming is also known as "Remembrance of Ancestors Day" or 'Grave Sweeping Day'.

Although many festivals celebrate spring as a time of renewal and new life, the Chinese choose this time to remember friends and family members who have died.

How do you honor your ancestors? If you were Chinese, you might celebrate Ch’ing Ming.

Dating back 3,000 years, the practice of Ch’ing Ming is still observed worldwide by Chinese families. Ch’ing means "pure" or "clean"; ming means "brightness." The words together are applied to a Chinese tradition that helps explain why respect for elders is such an important part of the Chinese culture. Many Chinese believe that a person's good fortune or misfortune comes from his or her ancestors; that all departed ancestors still have the same physical needs they had when alive; and that the departed can assist their relatives on Earth.

April 5,2007- - CH'ING MING (Taoist) – a spring festival, is a day to visit the graves of ancestors.  For three days before Ch’ing Ming, no hot food is eaten and no fires may be lit.  On the day itself, family members tidy the burial sites, plant flowers and offer gifts of food and wine, clothing and furniture.

In the tradition of the Chinese religion, when a person dies his or her spirit lives on.  If the spirits are unhappy, then they will cause trouble for those still living.  For this reason, burial sites are carefully chosen and members of the family are buried close to one another.

I find many of the Ch’ing Ming traditions are so interesting.

After the grave sites have been cleaned, a meal is eaten at the graveside.  Before the meal begins, tea or wine is poured on the ground around the grave to soothe the spirits.  As well, a portion of the food from the meal is set aside for the departed souls.  After the meal, a ceremony is often held where pieces of paper representing money, clothing and furniture are burned in the hope that the “spirit” of the offerings will reach the dead ancestors.

Other customs include burning incense, offering prayers and burning symbolic paper. It is not necessarily a time of sadness, but one of reflection, remembrance and communion with past generations.

After the ceremony, many families spend the rest of the day flying kites, (in shapes of animals, or characters from Chinese opera).  When evening comes, candles are placed inside the kite which makes them glow as they twist their wild patterns in the darkening sky.
 

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

Hartson S. Dowd

hsdowd@telus.net