ASHELEY GAO
I
still consider myself lucky since I didn’t have any Qingming experience yet.
Ever since elementary school, in spring time, my friends keep mentioning their
Qingming with the family and their stories always leave me in fear. They are
stories about mountains in the remote suburbs, cemeteries, tombstones, flames
and smoke. At that time, I was too young to grasp the idea of death and
afterlife, and I wish my Qingming experience can be delayed as late as
possible.
The
Qingming Festival is the festival of the dead. Each year on April 4 or 5,
Chinese people take the day off to visit their ancestors in the cemeteries,
tending their tombs by sweeping the dust (sometimes symbolically) off the
tombstones.It has been a part of the tradition for more than 2,500 years. Rumor
has it that almost every Qingming Festival in the history had either rainy or
cloudy weather, as if the sky is touched by the sadness on earth. One of the
most widely spread Qingming poem depicted a typical scene on the day of
Qingming, saying that “drizzling rain falls like tears, all mourners have lost
their souls”.
Honoring
the ancestors is an essential part of Chinese culture. As my grandfather
settled in a city that is four hours of plane ride away from his hometown, one
of the first things he considered is to relocate the family burial from his
hometown to his current city once he settled down. This relocation will go
through the proper ceremony, and each Qingming following that relocation, new
libation and offerings must be made. My grandparents used to travel all the way
from Beijing to Northern China to visit that family burial.The importance of
honoring the ancestors can also be seen in the movie Mulan where a shrine in a
residence is dedicated to the plaque of ancestors.
One
of the most common Qingming practice is to communicate with the dead by burning
offerings in front of their grave site. Paper money, in the currency of the
underworld, is burnt so that the people who live there will have enough money
to get by. Paper houses, paper cars, paper cell phones and very recently paper
iPad are all popular offerings for burning. The gift shop at the cemeteries
will have Qingming special package which include everything people might need
in the underworld in the form of paper. Once the offerings are burnt to ashes,
the wind will carry them away, up to the sky and down to earth where the
ancestors live. Not only in cemeteries but also on the street, after sunset,
people start a little bun fire, and start to send gifts to the underworld. It is
quite spectacular to walk on the street, seeing little groups of people
surrounding a small fire, burning paper Luis Vitton bags and paper BMW cars.
Qingming
is not only a time for commemorating the dead, but also to learn how to cherish
the living ones around you. As spring comes with the smell of dirt, rain and
freshly bloomed flowers, a new wave of life begins.
The Woman Behind the Cultural Perspectives Section:
Asheley Gao is an extremely creative young woman, currently attending UC Berkeley as an undergraduate, a long way away from her home country of China. She is double majoring in Political Economy and History of Art. Her interest in life and exuberance is evident, not only in her work as an artist and academic, but also a friend and co-worker.
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