The Qingming Festival on April 4 is a traditional Chinese ancestor worship festival. However, in Yibin, Sichuan, a video about "a grandson eating offerings in front of his grandfather's grave" sparked heated discussions on the whole network. In this video, a 6-year-old child picks up an offering of worship in front of his grandfather's grave, which has sparked a series of different voices and opinions from netizens.
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In the video, the grandson is obviously an innocent child, he happily picks up the sacrifice and asks his grandfather if he wants to eat it, but in the face of his grandfather's "silence", he does not hesitate to taste it himself. This seems to be a childish move, but it has aroused questions and criticism from some netizens. Some netizens saw this as disrespectful to their ancestors and suggested that they should eat offerings when they returned home, while others blamed the fact that they should not take their children to the grave and said that it was inappropriate to laugh in front of the grave.
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In response, the child's father also responded. He explained that the video was filmed to record the happy times of the children's childhood, and that it is a local custom to eat offerings at the grave, and they believe that all the offerings brought to the grave should be consumed, and they do not feel that there is anything abnormal.
However, the comments of netizens are mixed. Some people think that children should be happy to eat in front of their grandfather, rather than being too rigid and demanding, while others raise questions from the perspective of hygiene, worrying that there may be hygiene problems when eating offerings in front of the grave. In addition, some netizens also mentioned the differences in customs in different regions, as well as the saying that descendants may be blessed by their ancestors by eating offerings after worshipping their ancestors.
Some people also said, "It's not a big deal to eat tribute! Tribute is to be used to worship the gods or the deceased." But the gods or characters don't get angry just because you didn't eat the tribute! Also, the tribute is wasted, and it's not good for the environment if no one eats it there. Who cares about such a trivial matter!"
Some netizens commented like this
As we explore the customs of different regions, let's not forget about the sacrificial customs throughout the country. In some places, especially during the Qingming Festival or the Dragon Boat Festival, people will choose to leave their hometowns and stay overnight in temples or mountains to pray for peace and the protection of their ancestors. For example, in Hunan and Jiangxi, some people will choose to go to the temple during the Qingming Festival, light incense to worship their ancestors, and express their longing for their loved ones. Although these sacrifices take different forms, the emotions behind them are the same, all of which are affectionate prayers for family members and good expectations for the future.
The controversy over the custom of worshipping ancestors on the Qingming Festival is actually a different embodiment of the understanding of traditional culture. In this rich and diverse society, we should respect everyone's perspectives and customs, and be tolerant and open to understanding and accepting different cultures. Only in this way will we be able to promote the development of cultural diversity and achieve harmonious coexistence in society.
What are your customs, and what do you think of this?