It’s that time of year again! Every street corner in Beijing will be filled with people who burn paper money, and the sky will be full of dragons, yes, kind. Qingming Festival (清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节 清明节Det er også en dag, der markerer den nye forårsvarme, der falder den April 4 of this year.
The Qingming Festival involves many rituals, boss among them is a day spent visiting and clearing ancestors’ tombs (hence the name Tomb Celebration Day) and placing lilies and chrysanthemums, flowers usually associated with death. Families also offer food and burn incense in honor of those who have passed. You can also see families burn money, often next to the road at night, which are offers to the dead so they can also buy what their hearts want in the afterlife.
The origin of the Holy Festival is a classic city legend involving cannibalism and accidental murder. Nevertheless, the festival has become a classic party for Chinese all over the world.
Qingming is also known as the Taqing Festival. Tàqīng (踏青) means Spring Outing, an event that will normally involve enjoying April’s perfect spring air except the chances of doing so is currently rather slim. A popular family activity is kite flying and it is usual to fly a dragon with colored lanterns tied to the end. There is a superstition that if you get out of the dragon, it will ward off illnesses and bring good luck.
Judy Zhao, a native Beijinger, celebrates the Qingming Festival by going to dig from her grandparents as well as her husband’s grandparents to sweep. “I also like to spend the day riding my bike and flying kites to welcome spring,” she says.
According to Minna Zhao, originally from the northeastern city of Jilin, “every Qingming festival, my parents, along with their relatives, would bring flowers to my grandparents’ graves.” However, Zhao also mentioned that the festival is “just another public holiday for unmarried people,” considering that Qingming Jie is a family holiday and married couple or parents have a greater responsibility to honor their deceased in -laws or grandparents. The younger, unmarried generation usually notices with their parents or will opt out of the grave-haired tradition completely.
Of course, we are mostly excited about the prospect of having three days free work, but there are several things to be excited about the Qingming Festival. A day of partying and memorial day means a day filled with food, food and more food. A traditional stapler to eat during the festival, especially in southern China, are sweet green rice balls or 青团 QīngtuánMade of glutinous rice and vegetables – hence the color – and filled with sweetened bean pasta. There is also a Qingming Snails bowl cooked in ginger, soy sauce and cooking wine; Think of it as Chinese Escargots.
Read: Mandarin Monday: Significant vocabulary to welcome spring
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