China News Service, Beijing, April 4th: Why does the Qingming Festival have both sad and happy aspects?
——Exclusive interview with Tang Zhiqiang, director of the Agricultural History Research Department of the China Agricultural Museum
China News Service reporter Ying Ni
"It rains heavily during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road feel like they are dying." This is the Qingming Festival; "The pear blossoms are blowing in the wind during the Qingming Festival, and wanderers are half out of the city in search of spring." This is also the Qingming Festival. As the only festival named after a solar term in China, Qingming not only embodies the feeling of being careful about the end and looking forward to the past, the solemnity of paying homage to ancestors, but also the joy of going out to enjoy the spring, fresh and bright scenes.
Why does Qingming Festival have both sad and happy aspects? Tang Zhiqiang, director of the Agricultural History Research Department of the China Agricultural Museum and secretary-general of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms Protection and Inheritance Alliance, recently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" to elaborate on the reasons.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
Reporter from China News Service: Qingming was originally a solar term based on changes in the natural environment and mainly used to guide agricultural production. How did it become a festival with rich humanistic connotations?
Tang Zhiqiang:
According to historical data, Qingming has already appeared in Guanzi, which was written during the Warring States Period, and the fifth hour of the "Thirty O'clock" is Qingming. "Huainanzi Tianwenxun" written in the Western Han Dynasty said: "On the fifteenth day after the spring equinox, when Dou Zhi Yi is on the second day, the Qingming wind will arrive." The Qingming wind is a refreshing, clear and pure wind.
In 104 BC, the twenty-four solar terms were included in the Taichu calendar and promoted throughout the country. They became a time guide for people's production and life practices, and played an indispensable and important role in guiding agricultural production. For example, preparations for silkworm rearing can be started during the Qingming solar term. Ten days after this solar term, the germination method can be used to make ginger sprout early and neatly.
The origin and evolution of Qingming Festival as a festival is also inseparable from the ancient Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival.
The custom of cold food originated from ancient ancestors changing fire in spring. In ancient times, due to the importance of fire to human life, the ancients believed that "fire" had gods, so they would hold sacrifices. Each family's sacrificial fire must be extinguished once a year, and then a new fire must be drilled and burned again, which is called changing the fire. In the days without fire, you can only survive with cold food, so it is called cold food. In the Han Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival was also called the No-Smoking Festival. In the Tang Dynasty, grave worship and tomb sweeping were officially included in the Five Rites, and the Cold Food Festival became the day of worship and sweeping. In the development of later generations, customs such as worshiping ancestors, planting willows, and chanting poems were gradually added to the Cold Food Festival. The relationship between Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival is reflected in the close connection in time, usually only one or two days apart.
The Shangsi Festival is an important festival in ancient times where the "purification and bathing" activity was held. The so-called "purification" is to take away things that are considered old and dirty from around you to make yourself fresh and auspicious. Later, it developed into a collection to eliminate disasters. It is a festival that combines meanings such as praying for blessings, going on an outing, and seeking a child and a mate. The Shangsi Festival is also very close to the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival.
After the Tang Dynasty, the three festivals were included in the same holiday. People connected the cold food and fire prohibition with the new fire during the Qingming Festival. Over time, the folk customs and culture of the three festivals were integrated. As a result, Qingming Festival has evolved from a solar term representing astronomical time to a comprehensive festival with dual connotations of solar terms and customs through step-by-step deletion and simplicity.
On April 5, 2023, during the Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday, Chinese traditional costume enthusiasts visited the Beijing Garden Expo Garden for vacation. Photo by Hou Yu
Reporter from China News Service: On the one hand, the Qingming Festival is about pursuing the past with caution, paying homage to ancestors, and sweeping the tombs of ancestors; on the other hand, it is about joy and comfort, and spring outings. How do you understand the contradictory unity of the joy and sorrow of this festival?
Tang Zhiqiang:
As a traditional festival in March, Qingming’s yang energy is strong and the yin energy declines, all things “return to the old and adopt the new”, and the earth presents the image of spring and scenery. In particular, the traditional blessing of the Shangsi Festival makes outings and outings in the countryside more meaningful. historical and cultural connotations. At the same time, as a beautiful time for clear air and bright scenery, Qingming carries with it ancestral beliefs and spring festival rituals originating from ancient times. Especially after the legend and folk culture of the Cold Food Festival are integrated into it, the meaning of pursuing the future with caution becomes fuller and becomes an important event. Spring festival.
The Qingming Festival not only involves bidding farewell to the old, extinguishing fires, banning smoking and fire, but also represents rebirth by digging wood to make fires and making new fires. It also celebrates rebirth by wearing willows and inserting willows, enjoying spring outings, and memorial ceremonies for the kindness of ancestors. Sweeping the ancestor's tomb shows a strong meaning of seeing off the old and welcoming the new, repaying the old and turning back to the new beginning. People are cautious about pursuing the future, and they are also happy and happy. As described in this poem by Wu Weixin of the Southern Song Dynasty: "The wind blows in the pear blossoms during the Qingming Festival, and wanderers are half out of the city in search of spring. At dusk, the music and songs are put away, and thousands of willows belong to the wandering warblers."
Qingming combines solemnity and comfort. I think that when we are grateful to our ancestors and sweep their tombs to worship our ancestors, we should of course be pious, thoughtful, solemn and quiet, and show respect for our ancestors. However, sadness is not the main theme of sweeping our tombs and worshiping our ancestors, but recalling and remembering them. Through the ceremony of worshiping ancestors and sweeping their graves, people pass on the tradition of remembering their ancestors. The contradictory unity of Qingming Festival demonstrates the meaning of inheritance and development, inheritance and innovation.
On April 5, 2023, the Qingming Festival, people came to Changsha Tangren Wanshou Garden to mourn Academician Yuan Longping. Photo by Yang Huafeng
Reporter from China News Service: What is the connection between the customs and cultural connotations of Qingming Festival and the current lives of people? How can traditional festivals be "innovated"?
Tang Zhiqiang:
During the Qingming Festival, the daily average temperature in most parts of China has risen above 12°C. The air is fresh, precipitation increases, and nature is full of vitality. This season is also the flowering period for many flowers, and flower viewing has become an important part of people's outings.
Festivals are the most concentrated cultural expression and the most vivid cultural expression of a nation. The Qingming Festival integrates natural solar terms and humanistic customs, and was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists in 2006.
The Qingming Festival has been washed by history and has a strong humanistic connotation, full of the power to touch people's hearts. Discovering the moving cultural charm of traditional festivals is the key to their "innovation".
In current greetings, people often say "Qingming and well-being", which reflects the inheritance of the humanistic connotation of the ancient festival. In fact, happy culture is also an important part of the humanistic connotation of Qingming. Customs such as outings, swings, kite flying, tree planting, willow planting, Cuju, cockfighting, tug-of-war, silkworm flower parties, and sending gifts to each other during the Qingming Festival are all filled with a festive atmosphere of family and friends gathering, children's affection, and relaxed and happy festival atmosphere. . Therefore, I advocate that Qingming Festival can also vigorously promote and inherit the happy culture.
On April 5, 2023, Qingming Festival, citizens came to Suzhou Fangfangshan National Forest Park for an outing. Micro photo taken by Hangxing
Reporter from China News Service: Some countries overseas, especially in Southeast Asia, also celebrate Tomb-Sweeping Day. What are the differences in customs?
Tang Zhiqiang:
Many overseas Chinese also hold traditional festivals such as Qingming Festival year after year. Due to climate differences, customs such as outings and outings are relatively rare in some overseas areas, and the custom of ancestor worship has been continuously strengthened. For example, in addition to retaining the custom of worshiping ancestors in the homeland, collective tomb-sweeping activities organized by ancestral halls or local organizations have been developed every year to comfort the ancestors.
In Singapore, during the Tomb Sweeping Day, many Chinese families go out to visit the tombs of their ancestors. In the Chinese community in Malaysia, people hang kites during the Tomb Sweeping Day to commemorate their ancestors, and they also go to the mountains to visit the tombs of their ancestors.
In Japan, South Korea and Vietnam, the Qingming Festival atmosphere is even stronger. Tomb Sweeping Day in Vietnam, also known as Tangyuan Festival, is a day for folk to visit ancestors’ tombs and go outing. People eat cold food, such as glutinous rice balls and glutinous rice balls, on the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. Tomb Sweeping Day is also a traditional festival in Korea. People will bring flowers to worship their ancestors, place offerings in front of their tombs, and plant trees to express their memory for their ancestors. Japan also has a festival similar to China's Qingming Festival, called Obon Festival, where people visit graves and offer sacrifices, and also have customs such as dancing.
On July 21, 2019, at the Mountain View Temple in California, the United States, local people prepared to participate in Bon dance performances to welcome the Bon festival. Photo by Liu Guanguan
It should be said that Qingming Festival originated in China. With the spread of Chinese culture, it has become the common cultural wealth of many countries and regions. (over)
Interviewee profile:
Tang Zhiqiang is the director and research librarian of the Agricultural History Research Department of the China Agricultural Museum, the executive director of the Chinese Agricultural History Society, the vice chairman of the Beijing Museum Society, and a key member of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity project team for applying for the Twenty-Four Solar Terms. Chief editor of "The Essence of Chinese Agricultural Culture", "The Wisdom of Five Thousand Years of Farming", "The Wisdom of Traditional Chinese Agricultural Ecology", "The Wisdom of Harmonious Coexistence between Man and Nature in China's Ethnic Areas", "In-depth Reading of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms", etc., and presided over major projects of the National Social Science Fund The sub-project of the project "Collection, Arrangement and Research of Chinese Ancient Agricultural Books" is "Collection, Arrangement and Research of Comprehensive Ancient Agricultural Books".