A blog dedicated to Early American History Lovers, Civil War Reenactors, Living Historians, and people that love the past. Lots of Historical Recipes and Patterns!
Today was the Qingming Festival in China.
The Qingming Festival roughly translates as "The Clear and Bright
Festival." As the Chinese use a different calendar than we do in the U.S.,
the festival is always on the 104th day after the Winter Solstice. During this
festival many Chinese to pack a picnic lunch, including sweets, and hold a
picnic on the graves of their ancestors. They then clean the graves which
usually become overgrown during the rest of the year and offer special food to their
ancestors. The festival dates back to 732 B.C.E. to stop the practice of
wealthy families honoring their ancestors with frequent, extravagant rituals.
Many Chinese believe that
in the afterlife, their ancestors have 'live' again but in a new place. They also believe that their ancestors have the ability to interfere in the affairs of the living. To aid their ancestors in their new 'life' and to give
their ancestors things that the families feel that they would want in the
afterlife, the families burn Joss Paper which originally was money
printed especially for the dead and has no value on Earth. Many Joss Paper
bank notes are known as Hell Bank Notes—which sounds really funny to us.
During the 1840s, Christian missionaries in China told the Chinese that
non-Christians go to hell. The Chinese misunderstood the missionaries and
thought that "hell" meant the neutral afterlife, which is typical of
the Chinese beliefs. The money is only good for the dead at the "Bank of
Hell." The practice of burning paper goods has grown enormously
and now families can burn not only fake paper money but paper checks, paper
mache models of sports cars, ipods, credit cards, and an array of modern
things. It is considered very unlucky to keep a Joss Paper item in your
house. It was a homework
assignment for me to go home and burn a Joss Note. My sister
graciously helped me with the burning of it in the back yard (water standing
by.)
It is an interesting festival. I do like the concept behind the festival: If you do not honor your parents, your children will not honor you. It is one of the most important holidays in China. I think my sister had a lot of fun. I originally wasn't going to burn the Joss Note as it was a neat keepsake to have, but my professor really stressed how disrespectful and vile it is in the Chinese culture to keep it. I hope you enjoyed reading about this unique festival.
Thanks for commenting. I don't think food and cemeteries mix either. I think it is a really cool tradition. My teacher told me that virtually everyone in China celebrates this--almost no one works during the holiday--not like in the U.S.
Cool Holiday! I love chinese culture! I'm not sure I'd want to eat on people's graves though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. I don't think food and cemeteries mix either. I think it is a really cool tradition. My teacher told me that virtually everyone in China celebrates this--almost no one works during the holiday--not like in the U.S.
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