Verdant Cemetery - Sentimental Tomb Sweeping Day

Verdant Cemetery - Sentimental Tomb Sweeping Day In the past three weeks, I have had different activities in Phoenix. First, I went to Mesa to pay homage to the Jade Buddha Statue for World Peace, which seemed...

> Verdant Cemetery - Sentimental Tomb Sweeping Day In the past three weeks, I have had different activities in Phoenix. First, I went to Mesa to pay homage to the Jade Buddha Statue for World Peace, which seemed peaceful and magnanimous. Then we went to Gelundai to visit the fighter aircraft exhibition and aerial flying performances, full of fighting spirit, all with the momentum of bombing and killing. Last week, I went to Tianbi City to watch the dragon boat race. It was originally a fun event to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, but now it has become a new sports activity, roaring, cheering, and pushing forward vigorously. This Sunday, there is another kind of activity, which is to accompany family and relatives to sweep the tombs of the Qingming Festival to remember the deceased ancestors. It is a bit sad, a bit emotional, relatively negative, and discouraged. Tomb-sweeping Festival is one of the 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar. It is the fifth solar term in spring. It usually occurs in March. If it encounters a leap month, it will appear in February the next year. The date is not accurate. However, according to the record of "Story Qionglin": "The 16th winter solstice is the Qingming Festival." That is, the Qingming Festival is the 106th day after the winter solstice. If converted to the Gregorian calendar, it is more regular, and it must be April 5th every year. In leap years, it will be April 4th earlier. Ancient China was an agricultural society. The climate was the mildest in spring, when rice planting and farming began. By March, the weather was fresh and clear. People took a break and took advantage of spring outings. They stopped by the tombs of their ancestors to offer sacrifices and hoe and clean them, which is called tomb sweeping. During the Ming Dynasty, the emperor held a tomb-sweeping ceremony on Tomb-Sweeping Day and officially designated this day as tomb-sweeping day. This is how the custom of worshiping mountains and tombs during the Tomb-Sweeping Day has been passed down from generation to generation. Tomb-sweeping Day falls on Tuesday this year. In Phoenix, everyone goes to work as usual. Taizu suggested that we take advantage of the holiday and go to worship two days early when everyone is free. The best opinion was approved immediately. Relatives notified each other and agreed that the sacrifice would be held on Sunday at five o'clock in the afternoon. They purchased three animal fruit cakes and other sacrifices and handled them individually. They were as frugal as they wanted. Even so, everyone was busy on Sunday, and not all family members and relatives came to visit the tomb. My family of five, including three husbands and six of my wife’s cousins, made a total of fourteen people together. It was a rare gathering to inherit the virtue of being prudent and pursuing the future, and to observe the custom of sweeping tombs during the Qingming Festival. People gather in the green cemetery in the west section of North Road in Glendai City. Not far from the entrance, close to the bell tower, is the erected tombstone of the mother-in-law. Another section of the road is the inscription of the wife's great-uncle lying down. Three animal fruit cakes are laid out, flowers are inserted, incense is burned and kowtows are made to pay homage to the ancestors. The weather in Phoenix has begun to get hot, and the sun is still fierce near dusk. The empty cemetery is full of sunlight. To protect ourselves from the sun, we wear hats, long-sleeved clothes, and sunglasses to protect our eyes, which makes it easier to withstand it. The climate in various places has been abnormal recently, with irregular changes, and this place has also been affected. The heat has come early. In early April, the temperature has risen to more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, there were still gusts of cool breeze blowing, extinguishing the candles and reducing the temperature, so I didn't feel too hot during the worship ceremony. Before and after the worship ceremony, I stood and looked at the grassy cemetery. The vast and empty cemetery was filled with all kinds of upright or lying tombstones, signs of death. I felt very sad! Every time I think about my mother-in-law, I am filled with emotion. She has always longed to live with us again. Unexpectedly, at the end of April 1997, my family would be able to successfully immigrate. When we moved to Phoenix, we were hesitant to adapt to the new environment. Then I brought her over from Arkansas to live with her. We had a family together for three generations. Unfortunately, she soon became ill and passed away in November of the same year. She is buried in this green cemetery. Alas, people, after all, cannot escape the law of life, old age, illness and death. No matter rich or poor, no matter heroes or traffickers, the final destination is to be buried equally in the green cemetery. Every time I visit this cemetery, even though it is green, I am still filled with emotions; I always remember the two immortal couplets in the cemetery more than 30 years ago, which were inlaid on the farewell pavilion of Guangzhao Cemetery in Vietnam's embankment. Don't say that prosperity lasts forever, life is like morning dew, it was all fake pomp in the past! The righteous land is opened to a foreign land, those who are buried are buried, those who are moved are moved, and the passers-by pass by several times; the ancestral hall is surrounded by ancient trees, which are still shaded by the wind and rain, and the generations that come after thousands of years.