What is Qingming Festival?

Thanh Minh Festival - an event of important spiritual significance to Vietnamese people, however not everyone understands what Thanh Minh means, how to know which day is Thanh Minh Festival.

What date is Qingming Festival 2023?

What is Qingming Festival? Qing means clean, fresh, and minh means bright. In Northern Vietnam, this is the time when the drizzle and humidity have stopped, and the weather becomes clear and pleasant. Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms of the Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean calendars. From the beginning of the year onwards, Qingming is the 5th, after the Lich Xuan, Vu Thuy, Kinh Trap, and Xuan Phan seasons.

Qingming Festival is the first day of Qingming Festival, which comes 60 days after Lich Xuan. Qingming Festival 2022 falls on Wednesday, April 5th of the Gregorian calendar.

Nguyen Du's Tale of Kieu has a famous verse that almost every Vietnamese knows by heart: "Thanh minh in the third lunar month/ The ceremony is to visit graves, the festival is to go out in the fresh air...". This verse makes people think that Thanh minh festival always takes place in the third lunar month. However, in reality, people now calculate the solar terms according to the solar calendar. The year of Quy Mao has a leap month of February - there are 2 Februarys - so Thanh minh festival falls on the 15th of the second lunar month, not the third month.

The meaning of Qingming Festival

For Vietnamese people, Thanh Minh Festival is associated with the ritual of visiting graves, to clean up the family graves to make them more spacious and clean. Therefore, this is also an occasion for people to show gratitude and remember their deceased relatives.

During the Qingming Festival, families arrange time to go to the cemetery, bringing tools to take care of the graves. For graves that have not been built yet, people use shovels and hoes to fill them up, remove all weeds and wild plants growing over the graves, to prevent buffaloes and cows from disturbing them or to prevent snakes and rats from digging holes and making nests, thus disturbing the rest of the deceased. Graves that have been built are swept and cleaned. After that, the people who clean the graves display flowers and offerings, light incense and perform rituals, and then burn votive paper.

The atmosphere in cemeteries during Qingming Festival is often bustling because even children are allowed to go along to recognize their ancestors' graves, learn about ancestor worship and how to practice traditional rituals. People living far from home often arrange to visit graves, not necessarily on Qingming Festival but can choose any convenient, free day during this occasion.

The humanity of the Vietnamese people is also shown during the Qingming Festival by helping to clean and sweep unclaimed graves or graves that are rarely visited. When burning incense for their family graves, people often burn one incense stick for each surrounding grave.

Notes on Qingming Festival

Usually, the Thanh Minh ceremony at the cemetery is carried out in the following order: Cleaning the grave - burning incense - offering gifts - inviting wine - praying - burning votive paper (don't overuse votive paper, the amount only needs to be symbolic). All participants must maintain a respectful attitude, not laugh, joke, or run around.

Before cleaning and repairing the grave, you should burn incense and pray to your ancestors to ask for permission. Pay attention to clearing away thick grass, removing weeds, adding more soil, planting more fresh flowers, and sweeping the surrounding area clean and tidy.

Fruits and flowers offered must be fresh and odd in number.

After the incense has burned about 2/3, give thanks, burn votive paper and ask for blessings to bring home to perform the ceremony for the family gods and ancestors at home.

According to VTC