CH'ING MING - "CLEAR AND BRIGHT"

In late imperial times, Ch'ing Ming was a festival when the ancestors were worshipped at home, at their grave sites, and in the ancestral halls citang of the various branches of the lineage zu.

The worship in the main ancestral hall zong citang involved the entire lineage. The hall keepers would "open the gate" and men and women, old and young would gather in the central tang, to collectively worship the lineage ancestors.

Bean sprouts, bean curd, and Ch'ing Ming "fruits" guo are still consumed by rural households during Ch'ing Ming. In the middle of the day, women and children carry baskets out to the outskirts of the village, to gather fleabane and shepherd's purse. These are brought back and cut up into a dough to make the green fruits. They are often made in the shape of a dustpan, and called "dustpan fruits", but there are also "fruits" in the shape of domesticated animals "Ch'ing Ming goat", "Ch'ing Ming dog", etc. Eating "Ch'ing Ming fruits" is said to give one sharp hearing and keen sight, and to make one clever and intelligent.

On Ch'ing Ming day, villagers still visit the graves of their ancestors to "sweep the graves". Rural families dig up the grass at the base of the graves, and pile it on top of the grave mound, "adding earth". Adding earth must be done in an odd number of clumps, to emphasize the influence of yang elements and counteract the yin of death. On top of the clumps paper money is inserted, and white paper cut into strips is used to "mark the grave". Planting trees on the path leading to the graves, glorifying the ancestors' names with inscriptions and changing the direction of the paths to the grave, are also carried out on this day.

Beginning with the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949, it became customary for young people from various parts of the county to make the rounds of the "graves of the revolutionary martyrs," carrying out ritual sweeping of the graves, exchanging steamed buns hua juan, holding meetings, and carrying out education about revolutionary traditions. Such activities have gradually declined since the onset of economic reforms in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It was customary for rural children to go into the hay fields on Ch'ing Ming day and gather hay flowers (purple cloud flowers). Plaited together with silk thread into crowns, and worn across the forehead, they displayed their wearer's skill and cleverness and resisted misfortune.

Because Ch'ing Ming sounds like cong ming "smart", the festival was a particularly auspicious day to give birth to a son. A son so born was known as a "Ch'ing Ming son". To be born on the day before Ch'ing Ming, however, was to forever be dubbed a "dim wit", written off and subject to ridicule. Families who inopportunely bore children on the day before Ch'ing Ming would often keep silent, concealing the event from lineage members and neighbors until the following day. Down to the present, it is still customary to avoid going out to visit neighbors and friends on the day before Ch'ing Ming, especially those households in which a woman may be pregnant.

In late imperial times literati and scholars would go out to the suburbs on Ch'ing Ming to "tread on the green", but nowadays such "spring outings" are more often organized by schools or work units, and usually involve a visit to one of the scenic spots or places of historic interest in or near the county.

Planting willow slips cha liu near the doorway of one's house, or at the back of the house, near the water's edge, or on the roadside is also customary on Ch'ing Ming. It is said that sprigs planted on this day will take root with great facility, so Ch'ing Ming is also known as a tree planting festival zhi shu jie.

In traditional times spring planting began soon after Ch'ing Ming, so most rural households were busy drying seed, repairing agricultural tools, and preparing to plant soy beans. To insure a good grain harvest, on Ch'ing Ming day, offerings of the three animals (pig, goat and chicken) would be prepared, incense and candles lit, and a sacrifice conducted in which one "made a vow" xu yuan to the spirits of the five grains. It was said that a family that had done so could count on a smooth plowing, and a fine growth and maturation of its grain crop. Early in the morning on Ch'ing Ming day, in many places in the county, those households with water buffaloes or oxen lead them out of their pens, one at a time, in search of grass to feed on. The household that is the first out with its animals has "snatched the green", and can count on good fortune during the coming year. In some areas when a buffalo or ox snatches the green, it earns the privilege of being let into the hay fields to graze, regardless of whose fields they are, without fear of rebuke. It is said that the draft animal that snatches the green on this day will be strengthened for the balance of the year. After Ch'ing Ming, the care of the animals was traditionally moved from a pen attached to the house to the fields outside, in anticipation of the imminent spring plowing.

Nowadays at Ch'ing Ming, all planting of early rice seedlings should already be completed. The two week period following Ch'ing Ming is marked by the ventilation of the seedling beds to toughen the seedlings and to control for insects, the planting of summer vegetables (pumpkin, towel gourd, bottle gourd, eggplant, tomatoes, etc.), and the planting of peanuts, sugar cane, taro, and dark cowpeas.

Copyright 2003, Dr. Eugene Cooper.