FestivalEast Asia · China
Qingming Festival
No rule yet
Nobody has written a rule for this observance yet, so the calendar does not put it on a day. A name with a made-up date beside it would be worse than a name on its own.
In short
Graves are swept and the dead are visited, in early April.
The story
Graves are swept and the dead are visited, in the solar term that gives the day its name - qingming means clear and bright. It falls on a solar term rather than a date, which is why a fixed 4 or 5 April would be wrong in some years, and this app carries no rule for it.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Why it matters
Tomb-sweeping. Families go to the graves, clear the weeds, set out food and wine, burn paper money and bow - and then, characteristically, walk out into the spring afterwards. Care for the dead and the first outing of the year are the same day on purpose.
What people do
The grave is cleared of weeds, the stone is washed, and food, tea and wine are set out. Joss paper is burned. Willow is put at the door. The day doubles as the start of spring outings, so the same families go on to fly kites and walk, which is not felt to be a contradiction.
Retold from the Gujarati household practice
Told differently elsewhere
Fixed to a solar term rather than a lunar date, so it falls on 4 or 5 April almost every year - the one major Chinese festival that behaves like a Gregorian date. Kept across China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, and as Thanh Minh in Vietnam.
This text has not been checked by a reviewer yet.
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