Tomb Sweeping Day, also known as Qingming Festival, is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. It is around April 4th every calendar year. The term "Qingming" literally means "pure and bright", and marks the start of spring - from that date temperatures begin to rise and rainfall increases. However, it is not only a seasonal symbol; it is also a day of paying respect to the dead, a spring outing, and other activities.
Ako vzniká Deň vymetania hrobiek?
The Tomb Sweeping Day grew out of an ancient Chinese festival called Cold Food Festival, which was originally held to commemorate a loyal man living in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 - 476 BC), named Jie Zitui. Jie Zitui was a loyal follower of Duke Wen of Jin. Jie once even cut some flesh from his own thigh and cooked it for the duke to keep him from starving. In 636 BC, the duke came back to his position, and rewarded those who had helped him while he was in need, except Jie. Instead of asking for something, Jie chose to live in a remote mountain silently. Later on, the duke remember Jie and felt ashamed for forgetting him, so he went to find Jie, but Jie refused to see him. In order to force Jie out, the duke decided to set the mountain on fire, only to find that Jie and his mother died in the fire. Later, the duke decreed that the use of fire would be banned for several days to commemorate Jie's sacrifice, and people would only eat cold food.
However, it was in the year 732 AD that the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty formally declared Qingming "ancestral worshipping day". The reason for this was not that people needed encouraging; it was exactly the opposite - wealthy citizens in China were reportedly holding too many extravagant and ostentatiously expensive ceremonies in honor of their ancestors. Xuanzong wanted to curb this practice, so he declared that such respects could be formally paid only once a year, on Qingming.
Cold Food Festival bol tým správnym dňom stopäť dní po zimnom slnovrate, približne pred alebo po Dni vymetania hrobiek. Pretože tieto dva dni boli podobné, tak dali Tomb Sweeping Day osláviť Cold Food Festivalom. Postupom času sa oba festivaly postupne spojili. Teraz sa Cold Food Festival zriedka oslavuje ako samostatný festival, ale žije v tradícii nejesť varené jedlo počas festivalu Qingming.
Aké sú tradície Dňa vymetania hrobiek?
Tomb-sweeping. Tomb sweeping is a way to show respect to one's ancestors. It is also the most important custom in the festival. People would spend some time cleaning the grave area – they uproot the weed, plant some new trees, wipe the tombstones and decorate it with fresh flowers. The dead one's favorite food and wine would also be taken for sacrifice, along with joss paper, the papercrafts or sheets of paper made into burnt offerings – these are all burned in the hope that the deceased are not lacking food and money.
Jarná vychádzka. Jar prichádza s Dňom vymetania hrobiek. Všetko v prírode dostáva nový vzhľad, stromy sa zelenajú, kvety kvitnú a slnko jasne svieti -, je ten správny čas ísť von a užiť si živú jarnú scénu. Tento zvyk možno vysledovať až do dynastie Tang (618 - 907) a každá dynastia ho nasledovala neskôr až dodnes.
púšťanie šarkanov-. Púšťanie šarkanov-je tiež obľúbenou aktivitou na festivale Qing Ming. Starovekí ľudia verili, že ak je človek v chorom stave, jeho choroba môže byť napísaná alebo nakreslená na stočeného šarkana, potom nechať šarkana vyletieť do vysokej nadmorskej výšky a prestrihnúť šnúru, aby choroba a katastrofa odleteli spolu s šarkanom. Ľudia púšťajú šarkany aj večer - farebné lampáše sú často pripevnené na šarkany, aby sa pri cestovaní po oblohe trblietali.
Eating Qingtuan. Qingtuan, or green rice ball, is widely consumed in China's Jiangnan area - the region south of the Yangtze River - on Tomb Sweeping Day. The seasonal delicacy is usually made from glutinous rice mixed with pounded mugwort - an edible wild herb thought to prevent toxic insect bites. It is often stuffed with some sort of filling such as sweet red bean paste.
