Qing Ming

Origin:

According to Chinese legend, the festival was held in memory of Jie Zitui who lived during the Spring and Autumn Period. Ji Zhong’er, the eldest son of Duke Xian of the Jin State, was falsely accused of rebellion by one of the Duke’s concubines because she wanted her own son to be crown prince. Zitui, a loyal retainer of Zhong’er, smuggled him out of Jin by night. As Zhong’er had always shown concern for his people’s welfare, Zitui did his best to care for the prince during exile.
After the death of the concubine, soldiers were sent to look for Zhong’er and escort him home. Entering his carriage, Zhong’er saw an official packing an old mat on to a horse. Laughing, he said, “What on earth is the use of that? Throw it away!” Zitui heard this and concluded that the prince would share only hardship with him but not prosperity.
He went into the mountains to live with his elderly mother in seclusion. When Zhong’er became Duke Wen of Jin, he rewarded those who had assisted him during his exile but forgot what Zitui had done for him. Plagued by guilt, Duke Wen and his ministers tried in vain to find Zitui in the mountains; he then ordered the mountain forests set on fire, believing that Zitui,
would surely flee the blaze with his mother.
After the fire had burned for three days and three nights, Zitui and his mother were found dead under a willow tree, with a note written in blood by Zitui to Duke Wen: “I cut off my flesh as a dedication to wish that you, my king, will always be clear and bright.” Duke Wen, bitterly regretting his actions and extremely saddened, decreed that the day was to be observed in memory of Zitui as the Cold Food Festival, on which no fire or smoke was permitted and only cold food was to be eaten. During the Qing Dynasty, observance of the Cold Food Festival merged with that of the Qing Ming Festival.


Significance:
Originally, Qing Ming marks the high time of spring and planting in agriculture in China. However, now in Southeast Asia, ancestors are honoured as filial piety and knowing one’s roots are among the traditional and core values of the Chinese.

Observances:
Qing Ming Festival is a Chinese festival held on the first day of the fifth solar term of the Chinese year, usually around the third day of the third lunar month.The Qing Ming Festival starts from ten days before and ends ten days after the actual Qing Ming day. The festival marks the transition from spring to summer. During the festival the graves of ancestors are visited and tended to by cutting the grass and sweeping the graves. Respects are paid to deceased ancestors through rituals such as the offering of flowers, food and joss-paper; the burning of joss-sticks and hell notes.


Acknowledgements:
http://pachome2.pacific.net.sg/~willows5/singlish_Q.htm
http://www.nhb.gov.sg/discover_heritage/heritagekids/feature_articles/feature_festival_chinese.shtml http://www.trustcentral.org.sg/Default.aspx?tabid=127