China

Introduction

Ching Ming, or Qing Ming, is a spring festival held on April 5 or 6, exactly 106 days after the winter solstice (around December 21) and two weeks after the spring equinox (around March 21). Both the solstice and the equinox have to do with cycles of the sun.

At the winter solstice, the sun is at the lowest point in the sky; at the summer solstice, the sun has risen to the highest point in the sky. An equinox occurs when the length of the day's sunlight is equal to the length of the day's darkness. This happens only twice a year—once in the spring and once in the fall. Many ancient festivals were celebrated during these times because they correspond to turning points in nature and were thought to be magical.

The name Ching Ming means "pure and bright" or "clear and bright," and refers to the clear, bright spring days on which the festival falls. It is often the first day of the year for families to get out of doors and enjoy the new grass and budding trees, so it is also sometimes called the Walking on Green Grass Festival.

History

Although the Chinese have made it a practice to honor their ancestors since at least the time of the Shang Dynasty (1776–1122 B.C.), the Ching Ming Festival is believed to have begun during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 221).

The great Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 B.C.) taught that people should "serve those now dead as if they were living." The teachings of Confucius are of major importance in Chinese culture. Confucianism, along with Taoism (pronounced TOW-izm) and Buddhism (pronounced BOO-dih-zem), is one of the major faiths in China.

The first celebrations of Ching Ming are thought to have included feasts, fairs, parades, and hunts. It was a time for playing games and flying kites and for enjoying the spring weather. Ching Ming was also a time for planting trees. It gradually evolved into a day for cleaning the graves of the ancestors, planting trees in cemeteries, and offering food and other gifts to the dead.

Folkore, Legends, Stories

Chinese literature is filled with stories about Ching Ming. Many of these stories and legends deal with death and the underworld and evil acts by spirits of the dead. Some tell how a person who did not receive a proper burial comes back as a vampire and tries to harm or kill anyone it meets. Others—such as the famous story "Mr. Li with the Iron Crutch"—tell how a part of the person's soul leaves his body and enters the body of another person.

In the story about Mr. Li, his ego, the part of the spirit that thinks and feels, leaves his body to travel to faraway places to visit with other spirits. The ego is gone for some time, and Mr. Li's family, believing he is dead, buries his body. When Mr. Li's ego returns, it cannot find its body and so inhabits the body of the first person it sees—a lame beggar with an iron crutch. Mr. Li's ego remains in the body of the beggar for the rest of his life.

The power of the willow

The willow tree, because it is one of the first trees to leaf in spring, is considered a symbol of new life and of power over darkness and evil. The Chinese often hang a sprig of willow over their doorways on Ching Ming to keep away evil spirits. Some also place a willow sprig in their hair and place willow branches beside family tombs to attract good spirits and drive away bad spirits and sickness.

Some people say that those who do not wear a willow sprig on Ching Ming will one day be reborn as a yellow dog. Chinese legend also holds that willow has the power to bring rain to help spring crops grow.

The tears of God

When spring rains fall at the same time as the Ching Ming Festival, they are said to be the tears of God, who weeps at the kindness of the people as they remember their ancestors. Rain is also said to be nature's way of joining people in mourning their dead.

These lines from an ancient Chinese poem written during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) show that this is an old belief:

On Tomb Sweeping Day
As the rain falls everywhere,
People walking in the streets
Feel the sorrow from within and without.

Legend of Cold Food Day

There lived a long time ago in the kingdom of Chin a loyal administrator named Chu. He was betrayed by fellow administrators and driven from the presence of the king. He journeyed to a mountain called Chinshan, surrounded by a forest, to live a life of solitude. When the king heard about this, he admired Chu's loyalty and searched for him throughout the kingdom. He finally learned that Chu was living in a cave on Chinshan mountain.

Chu would not come out of the cave, but the king so wanted to reward Chu that he had the forest set on fire to force his administrator out. Unfortunately, Chu suffocated in the cave. To honor his memory, people make no cooking fires on Ching Ming, and this day is known as Cold Food Day.

Customs, Traditions, Ceremonies

In traditional Chinese belief, dead family members are as much a part of the family as those who are alive. They are believed to exist in the "underworld," a place that is below the ground, much the same as the living do on earth, and so they still need things like food, money, and clothing. If the dead are provided with these things, they will in turn bless the living with prosperity and happiness.

When a person dies, his or her spirit can become good and helpful to living family members or mischievous and harmful, depending on how well the living take care of the deceased's spirit and honor his or her memory. Therefore, it is very important to perform the traditional rituals and ceremonies for the dead that are carried out on Ching Ming and other special days. Such ceremonies include cleaning graves, preparing food for ancestors, and welcoming them to the family table. People also give ancestors offerings of money and new clothes, which are made of paper and burned so that their "essence," or spirit, can be used by the dead.

All ceremonies conducted during Ching Ming are held either at dusk or just before dawn, because night is believed to be the time when the dead are at rest in their graves.

Family reunions at Ching Ming

Because Ching Ming is a time for families—both living members and ancestors—to be reunited, Chinese people who live in other countries or in distant cities try to return to their homeland so that the entire family can celebrate together. To allow for travel, in many areas the festival is extended ten days before and after the actual date of Ching Ming.

Family members who cannot go home perform a ceremony wherever they are that includes filling a specially decorated paper bag with paper "money" and burning it on an altar containing fruit, flowers, and tea. They hope the "spirit" of the sacrifice will reach their ancestors.

Cleaning the tombs

Like Day of the Dead and All Souls' Day, Ching Ming is a time when Chinese families go to family cemeteries and spruce up the graves of their loved ones. This usually begins at dawn with a special ceremony that may include burning incense and shooting firecrackers. All family members, even children, help pull up weeds, clean tombstones and repaint the inscriptions, place fresh flowers and willow sprigs on the graves, and perhaps plant new trees or shrubs. Yellow ribbons are also placed on the graves to keep away wandering ghosts who have no family to care for them.

Offerings for the ancestors

Once the graves are cleaned, families place offerings of food on stone altars or tables near the grave sites. The meals usually include meat, fruit and vegetables, wine, and the ancestor's favorite dishes. Paper money is placed on the graves and burned, in hopes that through the smoke the money will become real and can be used by the dead in the underworld. Some of the money even has "Issued by the Bank of the Underworld" or "Heaven Bank Note" printed on it.

After family members present their offerings, they may picnic on the food in the cemetery or take it home and have a feast, where they set places for the dead and expect them to visit and dine with them.

New clothes for the dead

The Chinese believe that the ancestors must be given a new suit of clothes during Ching Ming. They make these outfits out of paper, which are often packed in parcels, with the names of the ancestors who are to receive them written on the outside. Paper money is included in the parcels. A careful record of which ancestor is to receive which items is sometimes made.

The parcels are kept for a while in the homes, and the dead are invited to come and get them. Then the parcels are taken to the cemeteries and burned so they can reach the dead through the smoke. The ceremony is often accompanied by fireworks and burning candles and incense.

Foods, Recipes

Cooked meals are most often offered to the dead on Ching Ming, but some families keep an old custom called the Cold Food Feast. This custom comes from an ancient story that restricts the making of all household fires on the day before Ching Ming (see "Legend of Cold Food Day" under "Folklore, Legends, Stories"). Because people could not cook any food, they prepared cold meals that did not require cooking. This feast once lasted for three days. Today, people place foods such as uncooked rice and noodles and unpeeled fruit and vegetables on the graves.

Arts, Crafts, Games

During Ching Ming, Chinese families make elaborate paper offerings to ancestors. The offerings are burned during ceremonies in order to release their essence to the spirits. Paper models may include fancy houses, cars, beautiful clothing, jewelry, and other items treasured or wished for during life. Some of the more elaborate offerings may be five or six feet high and include amazing detail. Talented and skilled craftsmen work many hours to create these gifts for the dead, knowing they will all go up in smoke.

Kite-flying contests at Ching Ming

As a glorious day to enjoy the new spring weather, Ching Ming has traditionally been a good day for flying kites, an activity that began in ancient China. Today, after people clean the tombs and make offerings to the ancestors, they sometimes go to parks and fly beautifully made kites in many shapes and colors. Participating in kite-flying contests and watching kite exhibitions are popular ways to spend the spring afternoon.

Kite fliers from all over the world travel to China to compete in Ching Ming competitions. The kites may be painted with scenes from well-known Chinese legends or designed to perform stunts or create visual effects. Some make unusual sounds in the wind.

For More Information

Rosen, Mike. Summer Festivals. New York: Book-wright Press, 1991.

Snelling, John. Buddhism. New York: Bookwright Press, 1986.

Stepanchuk, Carol, and Charles Wong. Mooncakes and Hungry Ghosts: Festivals of China. San Francisco: China Books& Periodicals, 1991.

Web sites

"The Chinese Festivals." [Online] http://www.baxter.net/edunet/cat/chinafest/chinesef.html (accessed on February 8, 2000).

"The Qing Ming Festival." [Online] http://www.insidechina.com/culture/festival/qingming.php3 (accessed on February 15, 2000).