It’s Ching Ming Festival!

April 5, 2011 at 8:07 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Today is Ching Ming Festival (or Gravesweeping Day), which is a public holiday here in Hong Kong and in Macau, Taiwan and the Chinese Mainland! It’s also celebrated right throughout the world by Chinese people, even if they don’t get a holiday!

“Ching Ming”, or “Qingming” in traditional Chinese, means “Clear and Bright” and that’s exactly what Chinese families make the graves of their ancestors today, by clearing away weeds; touching up gravestone inscriptions; making offerings of fruit, tea, wine, flowers and even their departed ancestors’ favourite foods like chicken and pork! They might also burn paper models of things they think their ancestors might need in the afterlife, like cars, houses, phones and especially money!

It’s all part of the Chinese tradition of ancestor worship which dates back thousands of years, but it’s also a time for whole families, from little kids right up to grandparents and even great grandparents, to gather and enjoy each other’s company and reminisce about loved ones who have passed away. What a wonderful thing to do!