Qingming Festival (Tomb-sweeping Day) - Wednesday, April 4 2012
Monday, 6 February 2012
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Qingming Festival of 2012 falls on Wednesday, April 4. Most people will turn up either 10 days before or after this date.
In some country, there is holiday during this time like in China , holiday starts from April 2 to 4, 2012..
A warm reminder :
Prayer offerings to the departed loved ones who passed away the preceding year (less than one year),
prayer offerings at the new grave / urn compartment must be before "Chun Fen" (20th March, 2012), which is two weeks before the actual day.
Qingming Festival (also known as Pure Brightness Festival or Tomb-sweeping Day), which falls on either April 4th or 5th of the gregorian calendar, is one of the Chinese Twenty-four Solar Terms. From that date temperatures begin to rise and rainfall increases, indicating that it is the crucial time for plowing and sowing in the spring. Qingming Festival therefore has a close relationship with agriculture. However, it is not only a seasonal symbol; it is also a festival of paying respect to the dead, a spring outing, and other activities.
Qingming Festival is a time of many different activities, among which the main ones are tomb sweeping and taking a spring outing. The festival is a combination of sadness and happiness.
Tomb sweeping is regarded as the most important custom in the Qingming Festival from which the name of Tomb-sweeping day is got. Cleaning the tomb and paying respect to the dead person with offerings are the two important parts of remembering the past relatives.
Most people will turn up either 10 days before or after this date. It is a Taoist practice of honoring and remembering our ancestors. Food offerings, joss papers, flowers and incense are offered at the cemetery or at a columbarium as an act of filial piety.
As food is offered to the deceased, usually a sumptuous meal is prepared that can span from a main course right up to dessert! It's just too tempting to see the sight of the food, at times we just can't resist taking a morsel of the food after it had been offered to the deceased. At times we just pack it like fast food and take it home to be served later. Have you asked yourself before this question "should we eat these food offered to the deceased? Is it good or will be bad?".
The deceased are of "Yin" energy while the living are "Yang" energy. When food are offered to "Yin" entities their energy are transferred to the food which indirectly when the living consumes it they also take in the "Yin" energy. You can take a sample before the offering. After the food being offered, taste the food and compare the sample that you took earlier. Is there any different? The taste no longer feel appealing?
I know if the food is just left behind is a waste. I have same feeling.
What would happen if you take in the "Yin" energy? Some believe that you would feel agitated, drained of your life force, feel exhausted and worst of all you will encounter some obstacles, i.e. bad luck, misfortunes, etc...
However if you were to consumed food offered to high ranking Taoist deities, immortals, and buddha's like Guan Yin, the food are blessed by their "Yang" energy, you can tell the moment you taste these food. It's always sweet, the aroma is delightful and the smell is always pleasant.
Regardless you are a believer of FengShui or BaZi destiny , this Offering prayer to our ancestors is fundamental basic for all Chinese. If you do not have time to go back home, you always can pay your respect from your home. For detail please go to Increase your money luck by offering prayers to your ancestors
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