Wen 丨 Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Daily commentator Zhuang Yuan
"On all the dates of the Qingming Festival, the cemetery in Beijing is swept" "Yangzhou Qing Dynasty sweep, you can buy sacrifice flowers and fruits on behalf of you"... With the approaching of the Qingming Festival, there are more sellers who provide paid tomb sweeping services on various online shopping and social platforms. The reporter's investigation found that the price of private cleaning services varies greatly and the content is also varied. One of the sellers, who said that he could "pour wine on behalf of others, chat on behalf of others, and cry on behalf of others", offered a price of up to 1,000 yuan.
Spring rain apricot blossoms are full of clarity, and the memorial is still complaining about the light shisha. Qingming Festival is an important traditional festival in the mainland, and it is the traditional custom of the Qingming Festival to pursue the distant and remember the deceased, and it is also an important sustenance for people's inner feelings, and it also carries a rich and profound cultural connotation. At the moment when social mobility and the pace of life are significantly accelerating, limited by factors such as time and space, coupled with the inconvenience of mobility under the influence of the epidemic, many people do have the embarrassing situation of intentionally returning to their hometowns to visit the grave but unable to do it themselves, so they have spawned a variety of substitute services.
There is no love in the air, and there is a love ceremony. As a supplement to the civilized festival, the substitute sacrifice service can meet the needs of people to remember their ancestors, recall their relatives and express their sorrows to a certain extent, make up for the regret that relatives cannot make sacrifices on the spot, and also contribute to the prevention and control of the epidemic, which can be regarded as a new inheritance and innovative expression of traditional culture. However, some private substitution services are essentially a "business", and some over-commercialized services have become forms and hype, such as the prostration of the price tag, the crying of the generation, etc., which has caused many controversies. What's more, nowadays, there are cases where "sweepers" make random quotations, charge a lot of fees, but do not go to the tomb, but only deceive consumers by cutting other shots through WeChat live broadcasts.
Qingming sacrifice sweeping, the emphasis is on feelings, expensive in sincerity. In fact, the living can have many ways to remember the deceased, as long as the heart is full of true feelings, where and how to do it is not the most important. As for private substitutionary services, it is a matter of opinion. It should be reminded that while traditional customs are gradually "trendy", consumers should be vigilant against arbitrary prices, lack of integrity and other behaviors, and also beware of various types of scams that are easy to become popular before and after the festival. For this kind of "seasonal" scam with the gimmick of the sacrifice service, the relevant departments should also increase the intensity of supervision, crack down on rectification in accordance with laws and regulations, and "clean up" the chaos of the sacrifice sweeping service.
In Changsha Jinling City Green Cemetery, the staff performed the sacrifice. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zeguo
What should be considered more is whether when we talk about the Qingming Festival today, whether our hearts are full of awe and sincerity, and whether we understand and inherit the cultural significance of its implications. "Changchun Gate Qingming Day, Shangyuan Orchid Wind Flowers and Birds Blooming" "Xiaolou listened to the spring rain one night, and the Ming Dynasty in the deep alley sold apricot blossoms" "During the Qingming Season, the rain was pouring, and the pedestrians on the road wanted to break their souls"... For thousands of years, Qingming Festival has not only been an important folk festival, but also an important cultural symbol. However, with the changes and development of the times, the Qingming Festival inevitably faces the impact of modern civilization. The same is true of other traditional festivals, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Chongyang Festival, the Spring Festival... Almost every festival has people lament the dilution and disappearance of the "holiday flavor".
Of course, we should be tolerant and understanding of the festival "new folklore" that has arisen from changes in social life. However, the sense of heaviness and ceremony of the festival is not only rooted in the long-standing cultural traditions, but also comes from the expectations and recognition of the festival in everyone's heart. Only by passing on the spiritual core can the significance of the festival be highlighted.
Image: From the Internet, the copyright belongs to the original author
Editor: Zhao Xin