The Qingming Festival holiday has come, and now the Qingming Festival also has many people choose to go on an outing to spend it, after all, such a good sunny weather can not live up to the beauty of spring.
In China, the Qingming Festival has a history of many years, and in ancient times, it was also called the Qingqing Festival, the Ancestor Worship Festival, the Ghost Festival, and so on. It is together with the Zhongyuan Festival on The 15th of July, the Winter Clothing Festival on the first day of October, and is known as the three famous "Ghost Festivals" in China.
One of the most representative activities in this festival is to worship the ancestors in these festivals, burn paper and other ways to remember the deceased relatives and friends, hope that they can live well in another world, and also express our own mourning.
"During the Qingming Festival, it rains a lot, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls." This poem of Du Mu has been passed down for thousands of years, and when the Qingming Festival comes, we will always be sad about the departure of the deceased and those who deserve our remembrance. All parts of the country go to visit the graves on this day and worship their ancestors, but China is so big that each place has different customs in each place. For example, in some places, there is a saying that women cannot go to the grave.
In Guanzhong, Shaanxi Province, there is a saying: "The daughter does not go to the grave, and the mother's family is closed." This means that if the family has a son, the daughter is not allowed to go home to the grave to worship the ancestors. Only this family has no sons, only daughters, so that they are eligible to worship their ancestors. Why? This is all the backward thinking that men can pass on to the next generation, which has led to the emergence of "male superiority and female inferiority". Especially in places where information is not accessible, places are not developed, and ideas are not open.
Girls were also unable to enter the family tree in the past. This kind of thinking has poisoned many women, but with the continuous progress of society, the thinking has continued to open up. Men and women now work the same way, let alone go to the grave.
Of course, there are also some places that retain a similar custom, that is, the daughter who marries on the Qingming Festival brings the paper money used for sacrifice to her mother's family, and then the brothers and brothers and other relatives do the work. Of course, there may still be places where girls are not allowed to go to the grave. But I believe that the trend of the times will naturally slap these stale dross on the beach.
So what are the rules for worshipping ancestors on the Qingming Festival? At least the following 3 points must be observed:
1. Do not wear flashy clothes
Because Qingming is an activity to commemorate the deceased relatives, people are often immersed in memories, infected by the atmosphere of sadness, and wearing gorgeous clothes to worship ancestors will be regarded as disrespecting ancestors.
2. Tribute before sacrifice should not be eaten
When we go to the grave during the Tomb Sweeping Festival, we usually put some fruit snacks on our ancestors as a tribute. Before the sacrifice, it is best not to eat these offerings on the grave, otherwise it is a great disrespect to the ancestors. Of course, different regions also have different statements.
3. It is forbidden to play and play when going to the grave
After all, the sacrifice is a serious and heavy activity, especially if there are children in the family, when the adults worship and remember the ancestors, they must be quiet, serious, and cannot play and play, otherwise they will not respect the ancestors and their families.
Resources:
Traditional Chinese Culture and Customs