Qingming Festival

At 20:49 on April 4, 2025, the Qingming Solar Term was ushered in.

“All things grow at this time, are clean and bright, so called Qingming.”

The origin of Qingming Festival

Qingming Festivalis a traditional Chinese festival and one of the most important holiday of sacrifice.It usually falls on April 4 or 5.Qingming Festival is a day to worship ancestors and sweep tombs, which has a history of more than 2,500 years.

How Do Chinese Celebrate the Qingming Festival?

1.Spring Outing

Qingming is also called Taqing Festival. Tomb-sweeping day, everyone will go out and enjoy the spring blossoms, feel everything recovery.

2.Tomb Sweeping — the Most Important Custom of Qingming Festival

People commemorate and show respect to their ancestors by visiting their graves, and offering food, tea, wine, incense, joss paper (representing money), etc. They sweep the tombs, removing weeds, and adding fresh soil to the graves, stick willow branches on the tomb, and burn incense and ‘paper money’.

3.Putting Willow Branches on Gates

During Qingming Festival, people wear soft willow branches and place the branches on gates and front doors. People believe that this custom will ward off wandering evil spirits during Qingming.

Foods for Qingming Festival

Qingming was originally just the name of a solar term,it becomes the ancestors of the festival is concerned with the cold food festival.

1.Sweet Green Rice Balls

Sweet Green Rice Balls are a popular Qingming food, which are made of a mixture of glutinous rice powder and green mugwort juice, and stuffed with sweetened bean paste.

2.Qingming Cakes

Qingming cakes are called sazi or hanju . They are a crispy fried food, made of wheat flour or glutinous rice flour, eggs, sesame, onion, salt, and other ingredients.

3.Park Seed Kueh

Park seed kueh is light green, taste very sweet. It is said that eating the seed cake can also solve the accumulation of heat, in addition to disease.

On the Qingming Festival day, doing “Park seed kueh” is also the traditional food customs of the Chaoshan people, fully demonstrating the national customs and food characteristics of Chaoshan. Tomb-sweeping Day,far away in foreign lands, overseas Chaoshan villagers will worship on the park seed kueh, this is the unique way of Chaoshan memory of ancestors.

Qingming, when we cherish the memory of the deceased with sorrow, we should love ourselves, let us embrace health, hug the sweet, and live a wonderful life like spring with optimism.

“Spring would be fine, if you were still there.”

This year, did you go back to visit the grave? Who are you traveling with? Who are you missing?