The festival is called
Qīngmíng Jié in
Standard (Mandarin) Chinese (
清明節 /
清明节;
Wade-Giles:
Ch‘ing Ming Chieh), literally "Pure Brightness Festival" or "Clear and Bright Festival".
[3] The name suggests a time for people to go outside and enjoy the greenery of springtime (
踏青,
tà qīng, "treading on the greenery"), but it is mostly noted for it connection with
Chinese ancestral veneration and the tending of family graves. The
Chinese characters are read
Cing1-ming4 Zit3in
Cantonese, and
Chheng-bêng-cheh or
Chhiⁿ-miâ-choeh in
Min.
Qingming has been regularly observed as a statutory public holiday in China. On
Taiwan, the
public holiday is now always observed on 5 April to honor the death of
Chiang Kai-shek on that day in 1975. It became a
public holiday in mainland China since 2008.
------ From Wikipedia ( I am too lazy to write)
What Cantonese do on this day?
mourning our late family members as well as family gathering and go hiking.
first, you have to equip yourself, as in this misty season, going on the countryside path could make you very dirty. so umbrella, rain boots, hats...are needed.
guys responsible for carrying heavy oblations. you must seeing too many people are participating in, yes, as they are included even grandfather's cousins' family members. even couldn't seen so much people in the new year.
in the past, when people die, family can pick a place where has beautiful view on the hill, dig a hold and bury their beloved. the ancestors' grave we have to visit, the eldest one has few hundreds history. you know after sooooo many years some places might have became a road, a bay, a ... anyway, no matter how these places become, there are at least one people in the family is obliged to remember all the graves' location. usually male member do this.
after finding the grave, guys will do some clean up.
then ladies start to burn the oblations
what is the hottest oblations ?
something high-tech
something luxury
something to wear. our late ancestors might still like chinese style of clothes, so most people still stick with the choice of Chinese costume.
a new villa
some money to spend
surely our late ancestor might like to spend a holiday abroad, so they might need some dollar.
they are all made of paper, people used to believe the late ancestor will get what they burnt, and the paper made things will became full function useful things in the late people's society. however, nowadays, we do this just for keeping a tradition. although personally I think it is quite polluted and un-eco, it is funny have a tradition to play in a festival.
I think after 1997, it became illegal to randomly pick a place to be a grave, so those who died after 1997
must be cremated and bone ash must be placed in the cemetery.
for those big families like mine, on the day, we have a lot places to visit, from day till night. although tired, have a lot of fun and joy. for kids, this activity is just a day of hiking and picnic.
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