Things To Take Yote Of During The Qingming Festival

The Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival where the family commemo-rates deceased relatives by cleaning their tombs and ensuring that the tombs are in good condition. Qingming Festival is also known as the Tomb Sweeping Day. According to folklore, when a person passes away, his three souls will leave the body. One goes to heaven, the second goes to the grave and the third stays at the ancestral tablet in the home to watch over the descendants. The descendants worship and perform prayers at home as a sign of respect and also to feed the soul of the ancestors. In Feng Shui study, it is believed that the condition of tombs and their surroundings affects the living descendants’ health and wealth.

Qingming Festival, which usually falls on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, happens to fall on April 5 this year. Most people will observe these rites either on the day itself or 10 days before or after April 5, which fall in between March 26 and April 13.

Below are some interesting practices during the Tomb Sweeping Day. You can choose to follow some of these practices but do take note of No. 2, 3 and 7.

1. Joking is prohibited during prayers at the tomb. It is believed that joking will incur the wrath of the ancestors. Although this is a myth, Chinese culture pays a lot of importance to respecting the elders and ancestors, hence, every family should keep a serious expression while praying to the ancestors. Family should be dressed in neat and clean clothes to show respect for the ancestors.