The English translation of Qing Ming Jie is ‘Pure and Bright Festival’ or ‘Clear and Bright Festival. It’s the same as the western All Soul’s Day. This festival comes once a year around early April. It falls on 106th day after the winter solstice in December. Qing Ming Jie is about worshipping ancestors and Filial Piety. People visit columbaria and cemeteries with foods and other similar things to offer the ancestors.
Origins
In the Zhou Dynasty (1125-225 BC) Qing Ming was marked as a festival. On this day emperors and other high-ranked officials would carry out a religious ceremonial act in ancestral veneration. However, this ritual changed during the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 23 AD) and the common people also began to attend this festival. People started to offer their prayers in graveyards and cemeteries rather than ancestral temples.
Many scholars argue about the Qing Ming Jie’s origin. According to them, this festival is a replica of ‘Han Shi Jie’ (寒食节) which means ‘Cold Food Festival’ but other scholars disagreed. There is a popular story behind this concept which took place many centuries back during the Zhou dynasty in China. Once a ruler of Qin named Duke Wen invited Chieh Chih Tui (Jie Zi Tui, 介子推) who was considered as a loyal subject of Duke Win, in celebration of his position as sovereign of a small principality. But, Chieh Chih refused the invitation saying that he is returning to the mountains in order to take care of his parents although many scholars have just mentioned his mother. To stop Chieh Chih, Duke Win ordered his army to burn down the entire forest. This did not scare Chieh Chih and he remained to his decision resulting in his death.
After Chieh Chih’s death, Duke Win ordered to put all fires out to commemorate him and celebrate that day as his death anniversary; hence, marking it as Han Shi Jie. . Following the rituals people eat raw food on Han Shi Jie. Since then this festival takes place every 105th day past the winter solstice in December followed by the Qing Ming. The customs and rituals of Han Shi resemble Qing Ming as people offer their prayers by making a tomb for their ancestors. However, this festival came to end during the Tang period and it was replaced by Qing Ming where people pay homage to their ancestors in graveyards and cemeteries.
Ceremonies and Rites
People perform various traditional practices including visiting the ancestral grave, preparing tablets or niches in 10 days prior to or after the festival.
Descendants buy tablets or niches to offer to the grave of their ancestors. Plus, people offer food items like chicken, pork, duck, and fish. Not only flesh they also offer fruits, vegetables, wine, tea, and rice. If the niche or tablet is set in the temple then the offerings do not include any type of meat. People offer vegetables and fruits instead.
The public departs early on this day to avoid hefty traffic, especially around columbaria and cemeteries. Before paying homage people first undertake sao mau (which means ‘sweeps the grave’). It includes removing all the weeds and grass that grow around the tombstone, dusting the ancestor’s grave, and painting faded parts of it.
People offer their prayers to different deities and spirits. The rituals include offering the first prayer to an important deity Tu Di Gong (土地公, “God of the Soil”) who was worshipped by Taoists. People also offer to these wandering spirits that have nobody to pay offerings. The offerings are paid to the wandering spirit so that they do not touch the family ancestral offerings.
Whether worshipping in the cemetery, temple, or columbaria it does not make any difference.
They all are similar to one another. Foods are offered on the grave, temple altar, or niche accompanied by joss sticks and red candles. They show their respect by bowing, kneeling, kowtowing before the tablets, niche, or grave holding joss sticks. Following the traditional rituals first, male members in the family pray and then female members.
After that, descendants burn paper gifts and false money to make sure that their ancestors are well off in the afterlife. This ritual includes a replica of varieties of material items like television, car, cars, servants, accessories, mobile phones, and houses. Several people write the name of their ancestors and descendants on the paper gifts and then burn it so that it safely arrives at their ancestors.
Then, people wait for their ancestor’s spirit to eat the food. After giving them enough time, people take all the food into their homes and consume it. Therefore, Qing Ming can also be considered a day when each member of the family gathers pays tribute and eats together.
Variation across the dialect groups
Hokkein and Teochew communities follow the tradition of placing ya Zhi (压纸), a colored paper on the tombstone. These colored papers are proof for other people that the people have visited their ancestral graves.
On this day Teochew performs another ritual of eating shells or bivalves. The shells of the bivalve are scattered around the ancestral grave after eating them. In this ritual cockles, shells are considered as gold which indicates prosperity in the family. Plus, it indicates to other people that the descendants have visited the tombstone.
The Cantonese worship their ancestors by placing three Chinese wine cups, cooked rice in three bowls, pork, chicken, lotus root, lettuce, sugar cane, and three pair of chopsticks around the grave.
Local adoption
The land scarcity in Singapore has compelled the government to exhume cemeteries which is why people are inclining more towards columbaria than cremations.
The traditional practice of visiting tombstones was popular till the 2000s. During Qing Ming, Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan (the Hokkein Can Association of Singapore) would organize a trip to the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery for the people to pay tribute to the unclaimed tombstone.
However, this practice was halted by the exhumation program at the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery run by the Singapore government. The remembrance practice of those gravestones was shifted towards the temple.
Qing Ming is stilled practiced by the Chinese people in Singapore regardless the religion or ethnicity. Chinese people who are not Taoist or Buddhist also pay homage to their ancestors. However, rather than practicing various traditional rituals, they offer their respect by remaining silent. They often offer a bouquet.
We have covered various traditional rituals performed by the different Chinese communities during Qing Ming. Furthermore, we mentioned how modern Chinese in Singapore celebrate this festival.
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He has never thought about his own inheritance. It is because he is too young and has not yet considered such a thing.In addition, the threat from the Hell Cave was not great at that time, so there was no need to go to war.
In addition to attacking, the hell deer headed creatures will also cast black light on the hell creatures around them from time to time.Robbery and murder were extremely normal. It is precisely for this reason that the value difference of cross continental goods is caused, allowing powerful or adventurous monks to obtain huge wealth from cross continental voyages.
Li Yuanba guessed that Jian Lao had joined the Jade Slips temporarily.Ten Thunder Cloud Techniques appeared at the same time.
The cave guardian cannot be killed at all. Yes, we need to find a solution Yao Feng from Luanfeng Palace intervened.In the cave, the monk in the middle stage of Nascent Soul felt the terrifying breath of sword cultivator and couldn t help but tremble.
It can be said that the Bansheng Cave Heaven is the Cave Heaven he truly controls, and it is even closer than the Cave Heaven of Zhai Ge.It was the task to sharpen Lou Wu. Did the reinforcements from the Baidi Sect surround you Li Yuanba asked next.
It is also an advantage that your Yuan Yang has not been lost.In a short battle, although he killed nearly 60 early stage Nascent Soul monks outside and thirty two middle stage Nascent Soul monks inside the cave, his consumption was so huge that he almost couldn t bear it.
Although their understanding of space did not reach the level of space rules due to their realm, their understanding of space can also provide help for the study of ancient space classics.His figure suddenly disappeared from the spot, and his arriving in one fell swoop allowed him to break through the distance limit of the great monk s attack range.
He placed the body of the great monk Duan Zhang in the computer room.The current Babel Compass is absorbing the radiation energy of the Hell s Crystal Essence.
This is exactly the annihilation of the sword , the annihilation of the sword of monk Teng.There were rumors outside that he had a three sword contract with Brother Lou, but he didn t even take one of the swords.
Senior monk Shi Dong was awake at this time. When he saw Li Yuanba suddenly entering, he was extremely frightened.He had guessed how serious the damage Li Yuanba had caused to the Qianren Sect, but he never expected that Li Yuanba would do so absolutely.
He found a direction and wanted to get out of this formation.Only Mingfa, a mid stage Nascent Soul monk, and four mid stage sages were still alive, but even if they were alive, they had no fighting power.
These monks all suspected that other monks had gained something, but in fact, none of the monks he found found any spiritual objects at the scene.At least in public, the monks of the Wuliang Sect would not be hostile to Li Yuanba.
With thousands of years of foundation, this formation has been reinforced countless times and how many formation resources have been invested in it.After sailing for a period of time, the long distance airship met up with another long distance airship, followed by the third and fourth long distance airship.
His sword intention is extremely lethal to hell monsters, even easier than most of the great monks here.There will always be some mid stage Yuanying monks or great monks who are defeated by the Jade Qing Sect s rewards.
You
The formation master next to him saw Li Yuanba s actions and was about to reprimand him, but found that after the formation base was put down, the energy transmission of the formation was normal.He didn t care at all about the destruction of a fourth grade mid level mountain magic weapon.
This was a happy thing. But his strongest spiritual pet, the red gold phoenix, was easily beaten, and he couldn t be happy about it.
It was really too much of a deception. Master Guihe said angrily, You guys have gone too far, right This Jiaolong I discovered the ruins first, and I worked so hard to dig them up.Qingyang said How are you going to compensate me Zhenjun Chiye pondered for a moment and said If little friend Qingyang is too embarrassed to speak, I will make a condition and you can see if it is suitable.
As long as he is careful, the chance of winning will not be too small.What is the most perfect goddess in your imagination This woman in front of her is What, perfect and impeccable.
Although these three people were quite powerful, especially the guard at the back, who actually had the eighth level of Jindan cultivation, their husband and wife plus Qing Yang may not be able to fight, but Xiying did not back down.The difference in strength between the two sides is too big.
After saying this, Chengen Mingzun stood up to leave, and Qingyang sent the other party out.He used his own method to suppress the bottom of the box, attacking Qingyang from the left and right.
Qingyang did not dare to make any small moves, and could only stop slowly according to the opponent s request.He wanted to keep a close watch here. to avoid any mistakes, not to mention that the Black Water Demonic Snake is now much stronger than him, so it should be easier to deal with people outside.
Several major families who got the news recalled the incident recorded in ancient books.He just kept lying on the ground and pretended to be dead.
The reason why the Giant Ghost King dares to fight is because his life span is approaching.Guihe Zhenren The realization of the current bottleneck was proof.
After that, Masters Qingyang and Shi Han took turns driving the Wind Gourd, and flew out for more than one hundred thousand miles without sleeping for half a month.After being hit, the golden elixir puppet was stunned for a moment, and then it charged towards Master Lingxu.
I m afraid those outsiders can t manage it either. Too lazy to care about these mundane things, the Ten Kings Palace still belongs to us.Dealing with them may not bring any good results, so the best choice is to deal with human monks.
If there are only one or two, no matter whether you try to crack it or use your body to resist, you can always consume the lightning.How about that For ghost cultivators, the body is a result of acquired cultivation.
to avoid misunderstandings between each other. The thunderbolt method used by the One horned Ghost King just now really shocked all the monks in Fuliu City.Consider, as Young Master Lingxu said before, Young Master Lingxu suffered every time the two of them dealt with each other.
It had not been opened for a long time. A rotten and moist breath rushed towards their faces.At this time, there are three ways to solve the problem.
The matter was over, it didn t concern me, and I was worried about the monsters attacking the city later, so I asked But what does this have to do with the Xuanjia Demon King and Qingling Demon King leading the monsters to attack the city What I want to do next That s what I m talking about.It is natural that such important moments as the Long Eyebrow Ghost King s birthday will not fail to come.
I had no choice but to take them to kill the monsters.Qingyang even thought that if he had stayed in Jiuzhou Continent, the same result might have happened.
How could he kill so many people There must be a hidden secret.In order to make up for the regret of not taking good care of her younger brother, Duanmu Fei took good care of her nephew s family and spent most of the money she saved on them.
There are also three color Tian Building Pill, five color Tian Building Pill, etc.The three of them had shared the joys and sorrows at the beginning, and they all came here from the Kyushu Continent, so their relationship was naturally unusual.
Then it appeared from an unexpected angle and directly grabbed Qingyang s other foot.Dare to show the slightest appearance of an elder, he still said respectfully Public or private, what happened at the beginning is not worth mentioning.
It has been more than fifty years since Yu Mengmiao s accident.How can Qingyang survive Seven golden elixir monks surrounded Qingyang, releasing all their aura and forcing him towards Qingyang.
We are all old foxes who have been cultivating for hundreds of years.True Lord Chujiang seemed to be very sincere and said Since you think it is unfair, I can directly waive the commission for this piece of realgar.
At the same time, the monster beasts showed their abilities.Now that Qingyang is a Nascent Soul monk, he realizes that these are just small engraving formations and are not very powerful.
After resolving the Seven Escape Locks, Qingyang looked at Xiying s family of three and said We have completely offended the Lingfu Sect and Shifu Zhenjun this time.He had not taken the initiative to launch an attack, otherwise Linglong Ghost King s situation would have been even worse.
But this time the ghost king carrying the coffin is not here, so we still have to inform him later.Fortunately, the alcoholic queen bee and the iron armed monkey are both golden elixir realm monsters, and their intelligence is much higher than that of the black water dragon.
The speed of the small teleportation array seemed to be activated faster.If Qingyang hadn t been so powerful, Zhenjun Chiye would have easily taken care of him, so in the world of immortality, strength is still the most respected thing.
Leave this matter to me and I will never let him vent his anger on the auction.Behind the one horned old man, there are five monks, including three ghost cultivators, one ghost monk, and a zombie.
He has already reached the level of the Alchemy King.In the end, He Master Huo gritted his teeth and took out a holding talisman containing more than 40,000 underworld stones and said I only have so many on me.
He is the leading genius of Thousand Buddha Cave. Something happened to the One horned Ghost King.Qingyang can t think of where he can get so many spiritual stones, so don t think about this shortcut for the time being, and just honestly look for materials to make elixirs
The Lingfu Sect seems to have a lot of materials, but in fact there are not many for a sect.
He didn t go to get the Huangji Yanchen Sand first.Otherwise, Fuliu Ghost King would not have brought him along.
Seeing the food right in front of them but unable to eat it in their mouths, the spiders tried their best to break the Ten Kings Sealing Formation, but their methods were limited and they couldn t use the formation method at the moment.What a joy. I don t know how many years the stone table has been in this room, but there is no trace of time at all.
Just now, Master Heyi only saw that the cave below suddenly collapsed, and everyone else fell in.This price was too high, but on the other hand, it also showed Qingyang s affection for Liu Wei.
I don t know where I live. Qingyang didn t expect that he hadn t met anyone for more than a month in the past.In other respects, it was exactly the same as this circular high platform, except that it was smaller in scale, with a diameter of about three feet and a height of just over one foot.
Why should I fight with you I don t want to sell you.It takes an average of several years for one bunch to mature.
Let s find out the ins and outs of the matter. Although the One Horned Ghost King s current cultivation level is not as high as that of others, as a senior in the Ten Kings Palace, he is also a former god transformation monk, and he has just surpassed the level with the cultivation level of the early Nascent Soul.
The lie deceived him. This person knew that Qingyang was powerful.If you really have a chance to meet Baimei Ghost King, as long as the other party has no objections, bringing one more Dou Changzai is nothing.
You need to deal with the Thousand Armed Ghost King s endless attacks and sneak attacks.The others were shocked. They did not expect that the ghost eating flower was so powerful.
It was low and narrow, with a radius of only a dozen feet.Not everyone has Qingyang s incredible strength. Let alone passing the level, they can kill forty or fifty ghosts in the Hundred Ghost Map.
After saying that, Xiao Yuhan quickly shouted into the house Husband, look who s coming.The jar that Qingyang drank when he broke through was the one with grapes added.
Now you are wanted by the Ghost Valley. Why don t you still Hurry up and surrender, and come back with me to plead guilty.How dare you hack my underworld stone Believe it or not, I can prevent you from leaving Baimei City with just one order Dou Changzai is also a veteran who has been cultivating for many years.
Even if you encounter temporary setbacks in the future and have your body and limbs destroyed by others, as long as you can escape the Nascent Soul, you will be able to continue to survive.This time Qingyang searched very carefully and did not miss any abnormality.
These people who don t even dare to risk their lives and only care about their own escape value their own interests and lives more.I don t know what it will be like. Fortunately, those people have all kinds of emotions.
Looking at the direction in which the iron eating beast disappeared, Qingyang felt a little disappointed.In the end, he did not escape from the murderous hands of Master Guihe.
If the matter can be completed in the end, I will definitely reward you heavily.Great. This discovery immediately shocked Fusang Ghost King and Fusong Ghost King.
As a result, more than a hundred years later, the opponent not only broke through the Nascent Soul stage, but also had terrifyingly high strength.The woman smiled, and Qingyang felt that the whole sky became clear, and her vitality was sunshine the woman frowned, and Qingyang felt that he was very heartbroken, and couldn t help but share her worries the woman s face showed sadness, and Qingyang felt Life is full of haze, and his own life seems to be meaningless if the woman is angry, Qingyang feels that he is also filled with anger, and he can t wait to rush forward now, pull out the guy who made the woman angry, and cut him into pieces.
Finally, they met an alchemy emperor who was willing to help for free.As soon as these words came out, the Tianjiazhuang people who had just been suppressed suddenly spoke up.
The Thousand Hand Ghost King was caught doing small tricks before.The third brother has already seen you. Are you playing hide and seek How about I hide here this time , you two are looking for it together.
I don t know whether it s because Baimei City is built on excellent Yin veins, or because there is a huge Yin gathering formation outside the city.In a hurry, they could only use their magic weapons to deal with it.
Mr. Mood, it should be manifested by a wonderful method, and it did not really consume the same amount of mana.If Xuanyuan Huai had always been invincible, he would always think that he was right and would never have such an idea.
In the short period of time before leaving, anywhere in the world that has left a deep mark can be manifested almost immediately.It was agreed at that time that the completion could be announced in advance.
People, rashly make false accusations. I m afraid there are quite a few of them who have caused harm to the fish in the pond.But there are many constraints. After becoming a Yuanshi, whether you want to fully realize the two hundred years of life, or eliminate the consequences of breaking through the realm, you need to take the medicine at least three times.
In this way, the two sides are truly tied. Each gets two and a half small circles.I thought about it again and carefully observed the power of the four image formation, and then I felt relieved.
With Ji Cangsheng helping him secretly, if he still can t stop the coming of this strange golden monument, he will really lose his reputation.At this point, it goes beyond the scope of extraordinary law and falls under forbidden law.
In terms of the concentration of mana and the strength of a single blow, it is already better than the ordinary perfect state.He was none other than the Celestial Master of Pingchang.
Huang Xiyin s joke actually coincides with the mystery.There is no doubt that this time around the battle over the trapped formation, as the twelve year time limit approaches, it has come to an end.
On the arena at the entrance to the deserted sea. If the battle between Jing Ke and Zhang Shimao was extremely innovative, then the battle with Xun Qi was regarded as weird in the eyes of many people watching the battle.Chapter 54 It is said that the soul contract of Impermanence Xuanming is bound to the soul.
The next moment, in Tang Xu s horrified eyes, the shadow of a fist suddenly enlarged.Gui Wujiu looked at Jiang Minyi carefully and said in surprise Your progress is much faster than I thought.
In the world of Ziwei, Xi Lerong had several heart to heart conversations with Mo Tianqing.Examining the Taoist techniques used by Long Yun, it was obvious that the two players Ling Xiandao and Ying Yuan were involved in the battle.
With a movement of his palm, another sutra scroll with a slightly darker color unfolded and covered it.Long Yun and Fengqing looked at each other and their hearts sank.
This costume alone will inevitably make anyone think about it when they see it.Wen Jinyuan and Han Taikang were simple and pragmatic people.
This Cang Yun is the crown of Yin and Yang Dao, and it naturally deserves its name.But in this way, the advantage gained previously was equalized.
Once you take action, you must be sure. Long Yun s eyes narrowed slightly, but he wanted to see what Xian Dao, Ying Yuan and others had to say.It is clear that the step of truly breaking through has not been completed yet, but the weather is so indescribable and so superb that it cannot be described in words.
Dongfang Wanqing thought for a moment and nodded slowly.From this point of view, being defeated by someone who is not to blame is not only harmless, but actually beneficial.
Mu Mu didn t blink, he just looked at it from beginning to end, and then closed his eyes, as if sensing the subtle changes.Then it is natural for him to accept this cause and effect, not only to repay the kindness of the Dongfang head in the past.
Gui Wujiu raised his eyebrows, quite surprised. Further evolution This was something he didn t expect.Although there are no patterns, the changes in luster and lightness seem to hide a mystery.
This Wood Boundary is one of the four giant trees that have been erected to form a huge pavilion here.It won t be long before someone comes to find out the truth.
