Qingming Festival, also known as Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb-sweeping Day, is one of the 24

segments of the Chinese calendar. It normally falls on the 4th or 5th of April, between spring

plowing and summer weeding, and is a time to pay respects to one's ancestors and to tidy their

gravesite. On this day, whole families, young and old, go to the gravesite of deceased family members

 to burn incense and perform a ritual offering while clearing away plant overgrowth from the

gravesite.

Customs

Tomb Sweeping or Ancestor Worshipping

A Time to Feast on Cold Foods

Flying Kites

Swinging

A Time to Taste Tea

Vocabulary

    If you talk to any Chinese people about their home town’s traditions for Qingming Jie, you may

run across some of this vocab.

fénmù 坟墓 = tomb / grave

mùdì 墓地 = cemetery (which sounds exactly like mùdì 目的 = “goal”)

sǎomù 扫墓 = to sweep tombs

bài zǔxiān 拜祖先 = to pay respects to ancestors

shāo xiāng 烧香 = to burn incense

fàng biānpào 放鞭炮 = set off firecrackers