Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as outing festival, outing festival, March festival, ancestor worship festival, etc. It was celebrated at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-Sweeping Day is the biggest ancestor worship festival of the Chinese nation, which originated from ancestors' beliefs and spring worship customs. Tomb-Sweeping Day has two connotations: nature and humanity. It is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival. Grave-sweeping and outing are two major themes in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The themes of these two traditional customs have been passed down in China since ancient times and never stopped. The second bucket (or solar calendar reaches 15) is Tomb-Sweeping Day gas, and the time of gas exchange in Tomb-Sweeping Day generally changes from April 4 to 6 in Gregorian calendar, which is not fixed on a certain day, but April 5 is the most common. Qingming, a solar term, is full of vitality, and everything "spits out the old and absorbs the new", and the earth presents a scene of spring and Qingming.
This is a good time for a spring outing and Qingming ceremony in the suburbs. Tomb-Sweeping Day's ancestor worship is very long, 8 days before Tomb-Sweeping Day 10, and 8 days before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day 10 (at the turn of the middle and late spring). These nearly 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day who worships his ancestors. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional major Spring Festival, and it is a fine tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times to pay homage to ancestors.
It is not only conducive to promoting filial piety, awakening family memories, but also conducive to promoting the cohesion and identity of family members and even the nation. Tomb-Sweeping Day's integration of natural solar terms and humanistic customs is a combination of humanistic and natural conditions, which fully embodies the Chinese ancestors' pursuit of harmony between heaven, earth and people, pays attention to conforming to the right time, place and people, and follows the laws of nature.
Qingming outing custom
The Chinese nation has had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming since ancient times. At the turn of mid-spring and late spring, Tomb-Sweeping Day is full of spring and everything is full of vitality. It is a traditional custom handed down from ancient times to pay homage to ancestors and go hiking at this time. This seasonal folk activity, outing, has a long history in China, and its source is the ancient custom of spring festival farming sacrifice.
This Spring Festival custom of farming sacrifice has a far-reaching influence on later generations. There are both solar terms and festivals in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day provides important conditions for the formation of the Qingming outing custom in terms of time and meteorological phenology. During the Qingming Festival, spring returns to the earth, and nature presents a vibrant scene everywhere, which is a good time to go for an outing.