Tomb - Sweeping Day
Qingming is meaning the clear and bright. It’s a good time for people to visit and sacrifice ancestors. The local people said during this time, it’s easy to get hypertension. So we need choose the soft and with staunch exercise to do. The meals eat on time, especially the fat people should eat less sweets, more vegetables and fruits, the old man who gets hypertension should eat less salt .and corresponding add potassium. Qing Ming is Tomb—Sweeping Day.
About the sweep a grave in the Tomb-sweeping Day have interesting story.
At end of Qin Dynasty, Liubang is the First Emperor in Han Dynasty, and Xianyu belongs to west Chu.In order to unite the country, there was a big war happened between both of them. Finally the Liu victory in the war and got honor. He came back to home and went to sacrifice his parents’ grave. But he couldn’t find his parents’ grave because the war has been lasted many years, nobody to look after them, so many grasses are growing on the graves.So it was impossible for people to see the writing on the tomb clearly. He felt so sad, he took out a piece of paper from clothes and tore it to many small pieces, holded it on hand strongly. And said: if Dad and Mum could hear me, I would throw the papers out from my hand, Let the wind blows away. Finally if a paper fell down and stayed on a grave, I would make sure it was you! So he threw all the papers to the air, suddenly there was one piece just stayed on one of grave, Liubang ran to the front of grave excitedly and wrote down his parents’ name. Then he asked people to rebuild it well. And he came to sacrifice every Tomb –Sweeping Day. Finally people followed Liubang to sacrifice ancestors’ grave in that day.
The traditional way is people take foods,joss paper, willows, flowers…many different kind of offerings to graves. During the day, we can clean the grasses and any other weeds around the graves, also put some fresh soil. For whole year only during this time people can clean graves. After clearing up, put special branches willows, incense,joss paper on the graves, put the food on the pine needles in the front of tomb. After finished the ceremony people take the foods share together or picnic, the custom still remain to today.
The most of ethnic groups celebrate the Tomb–Sweeping Day(April 4 or 5) in China. The Naxi people also. During that day, in the early morning the kids need get up early to get willow twig and flowers. They must very careful to choose the willow twig’s color, usually people only use the white skil willow instead the dark one. Do you know why do people do that way? Because can exorcize bad things, so we also put the willows on the gates. .
Woman need prepare food for spirit. The necessary foods are little bowl rice, one boiled egg, fish, and pork. Colorful dried sheet jelly. The man need prepare the firecracker, incense, one bottle of tea and liquor. The old man likes to take a pickaxe. Because it is good time to clean up grave.
