Text/Editor丨Qingtian Imperial History
●—<前言>—●
On this day, every family must prepare sacrifices in advance and go to the grave to remember their ancestors, which is also an important way for Chinese to remember their ancestors since ancient times. But the Qingming Festival in 2024 is very rare, rare in 60 years, no exaggeration!
Once in 60 years, there is no spring year, the double day is unlucky and the five loess star days are destined to be unusual for this year's Qingming Festival. According to the old man's saying, "If you don't go to the grave in the second month of the leap month, you will go to the grave one after another."
Therefore, there is still a lot of attention to the grave on this year's Qingming Festival, and if you are not careful, you may touch the disasters that the old man said, especially if there are five kinds of people, you must pay attention. What's different about this year's Qingming Festival?
●—<今年清明的不同>—●
The Qingming Festival has a history of more than 2,500 years, and April 5 has been the Qingming Festival for many years, but the Qingming Festival in 2024 has been advanced to April 4. Although it is only one day earlier than in previous years, there are many special features of early Qingming. The last Qingming Festival was on April 4, 1964, exactly 60 years after this year.
From ancient times to the present, the date of the Qingming Festival is set by the change of the sun's ecliptic longitude, and when the sun travels to the ecliptic longitude of 15 degrees, it is the Qingming Festival. Under normal circumstances, it is best to go to the grave on a single day on the day of Qingming Festival, which is just right on April 5 every year. However, 2024 is a springless year, and there is no solar term of the beginning of spring in the lunar calendar of this year, which is very rare in history, and it also causes the Qingming Festival to be brought forward to April 4 instead of the usual April 5.
This day happens to be the day of the five loess in the "Purple and White Nine Stars", and according to Chinese tradition, everything on this day should be avoided as much as possible. Traditionally, this year's Year of the Dragon is a very symbolic animal that has been endowed with many auspicious and noble meanings. And 2024 gathers a variety of characteristics such as a springless year that is rare in 60 years, making it extra careful to choose the ancestor worship day for this year's Qingming Festival.
In the eyes of the ancients, it is unlucky to have no spring, and there is a saying that "no spring does not go to the grave", but the Qingming Festival is the largest traditional worship festival in the mainland, and the ancestors must go to the grave every year. Therefore, there are also places that advocate small Qingming and big Qingming, are one or two days in advance or postponed one or two days, and there is a common saying among the people, within 10 days before and after the festival are suitable for ancestor worship time, there are "three before four" or "five after six" said. Ancestor worship is still going on, but there are five types of people who do not go to the grave.
●—<女婿不上坟>—●
In the traditional culture of the Chinese, the concept of clan is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, especially in important days such as ancestor worship. So there is such an old proverb: son-in-law should not go to the grave, go to the grave to insult the ancestors. From ancient times to the present, the son-in-law is also a guest from the outside world for the father-in-law's family, including the daughter, and can no longer claim to be the master.
Therefore, according to the regulations, the son-in-law naturally cannot participate in important ceremonies such as sacrifices, and if he goes, it means that the man of the family is not prosperous and makes others laugh. When the father-in-law's family organizes sacrifices, they will also deliberately avoid daughters and sons-in-law, which is also a vivid portrayal of family concepts and traditional thoughts.
In ancient society, there was also a saying that the son-in-law was forbidden to go to the grave because the son-in-law's behavior might affect the fortune of the father-in-law's family. Once the son-in-law goes to the grave to burn incense for the ancestors, then the fortune of the son-in-law's family may surpass the father-in-law's family and suck away all the wealth and good luck, which is a bad omen for the father-in-law's family and is very taboo. As modern people, the ancients were far more cautious about this aspect and concerned about the fortune of the family than we imagined.
●—<年迈的人不上坟>—●
Every Qingming Festival, many wandering wanderers will come back to the grave to promote filial piety and family affection, and promote the cohesion and identity of family members and even the nation. But not everyone in the family can go to the grave to worship their ancestors, and there is a saying among the people that "if you don't go to the grave when you are over 70 years old, the disaster will come to the grave".
Since ancient times, "people live for seventy years", seventy years old seems to be very old in this era, weak and inconvenient, but there are still most old people who want to miss their ancestors on the day of Qingming. However, due to the relatively large amount of rain before and after the Qingming Festival, there will often be continuous spring rain, and it is also easy to occur "inverted spring cold", which is easy to affect the health of the elderly.
Usually, the location of the ancestral graves is usually located away from the place where people live, and most of them are even halfway up the mountainside, and if necessary, it is necessary to climb the hillside. Young people don't matter, but when people reach a certain age, walking such a long distance, coupled with the slippery weather in the rain, may make the body unbearable. In addition to physical inconvenience, the mood of the elderly is also very important, the elderly are in such an atmosphere, they are more likely to feel the distance between themselves and death, and they are more taboo to talk about the topic of death.
In addition, the yin qi in the grave is heavy, and the young people not only have to kneel down to worship the wine when worshipping their ancestors, but also take care of the old man's body. The old man's heart to adhere to traditional culture is a role model for young people, but it is indeed inconvenient to appear on this occasion of going to the grave.
●—<年幼的人不上坟>—●
Children are innocent and curious about the world, but there must be a difference in the place where they are taken, especially in a solemn place like a cemetery, and for curious children, it may cause them some physical and mental stress. The topic of death involved in the ritual and the manner in which it is performed can cast a shadow on the child's body and mind.
Some naughty and mischievous children, regardless of the occasion, will jump around and make loud noises, which will affect the progress of the sacrifice and will also be very disrespectful to the ancestors. When going to the grave on the Qingming Festival, there are inevitably many taboos, not only need to consider the five elements, but also taboo people who do not match in the child's zodiac and eight characters, and a lot of people will bring a lot of trouble.
In addition, in the process of going to the grave, there is a lot of attention to when cleaning up the weeds and adding new soil, and it is not possible to take soil before and after the grave. Especially this year is a springless year, when going to the grave, we should pay special attention to various taboos, but children in this kind of occasion, it is inevitable that they will make trouble, and even make trouble for people to avoid. From the perspective of ordinary families, for the sake of children's health and not to clash with their ancestors, children should not follow adults to such occasions.
●—<孕妇或身体虚弱的人不上坟>—●
It is not recommended for pregnant people to go to the grave, on the one hand, it is inconvenient to stand and kowtow for a long time for physical reasons, and on the other hand, in the eyes of the older generation, the yin qi of the cemetery is not suitable for women and babies, and it is easy to cause conflicts. In some parts of the mainland, the custom of not allowing women to go to the grave is quite common.
In particular, women in some places can no longer go back to their hometowns to go to the grave after getting married, and even if they return to their parents' homes during the Qingming Festival, they only come to visit their relatives as guests. Generally, only the brothers, uncles and nephews and other men in the family go to the grave, which is also the concept of traditional Chinese feudal culture.
Similar to pregnant women, there are also people who are physically weak, and it is not suitable to go to the cemetery to worship their ancestors. Although I want to do my part of filial piety, but people who are very weak are also a burden to participate in the sacrifice activities, even if someone takes care of them on the way, there will still be some accidents, which is a disaster for the living.
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