It’s time for ancestor worship to come back again during the Qingming Festival (picture)

It’s time to worship ancestors again during the Qingming Festival (picture) Guangzhou Yang Qiwei Qingming Festival is a festival for outings and remembering ancestors. My husband and I went back to his hometown, Chaozhou, to worship...

It’s time to worship ancestors again during the Qingming Festival (Photo) Yang Qiwei, Guangzhou Qingming Festival is a festival for outings to remember ancestors. My husband and I returned to his hometown of Chaozhou to worship ancestors. Chaozhou is a very traditional and nostalgic town. The eight ancient sceneries of Chaozhou: Phoenix Rainfall, Beige Buddha Lantern, West Lake Fish Raft, and Crocodile Crossing the Autumn Wind are all covered with a trace of sadness. Walking in the streets and alleys of Chaozhou, you can see old people with aged faces and a hint of sadness in their brows everywhere, sitting quietly and sipping Kung Fu tea. The human-powered tricycles seen in old movies are everywhere here. The driver jingles the old-fashioned bell while weaving through the swarming traffic, which makes people feel like they have traveled back in time, as if they are in the huge city of the last century. My husband told me that in Chaozhou, you don’t have to come back during the Chinese New Year, but you must come back during the Qingming Festival to worship ancestors and sweep their tombs. Otherwise, you will be regarded as forgetting your roots and alienating relatives, and will be criticized by others. Therefore, in recent years, we always arrange our work and family affairs in Guangzhou before the Qingming Festival, and try our best to return to our hometown to pay homage to our ancestors and sweep their tombs. Around the Qingming Festival in Chaozhou, all kinds of tributes, paper money, incense candles and flowers can be seen on the street. The small town is filled with a deep sadness and a touch of nostalgia. My uncle is overseas and cannot come back. We made an appointment with our second uncle, third uncle, and nephews on a day to go up the mountain. The second uncle was responsible for preparing various items and flowers for worship. In Chaozhou, the custom that has been passed down is to go to the mountains to worship ancestors before Qingming Festival, and to set up altars at home on Qingming Festival. According to Chaozhou custom, we go up the mountain to worship on the day before Qingming Festival. Early in the morning, we drove to the mountain cemetery outside the city. When we got to the foot of the mountain, we parked the car, brought sacrificial flowers, and trudged hard on the roadless mountain, pushing aside the tall weeds and climbing up the steep mountain. Finally, under the guidance of the mountain people who specially guided people to worship the mountain, we found the tombs of our father-in-law and mother-in-law. Everyone was busy weeding, cultivating the soil, spreading paper money, tracing tombstones, placing offerings, burning paper money, burning incense, kneeling down, and praying. Standing in front of the newly renovated tomb, I clasped my hands and silently missed my father-in-law and mother-in-law's appearance when they were still alive and all the kindness they had to me. My father-in-law and mother-in-law were both honest and responsible people during their lifetime. Although they did not have a legendary life or great deeds, they were gentle and kind-hearted throughout their lives. They were also good at educating children and managing the family well, and were highly respected by their neighbors and descendants. Now the two elders are sleeping together in the mountains. I hope their souls will not be too lonely. As descendants, we will bring tributes and go up the mountain to sweep the graves of the two elders every year during the Qingming Festival to remember and mourn them! After paying homage to our father-in-law and mother-in-law, we groped and helped us down the mountain, and then drove to Songlin Ancient Temple and two other cemeteries to pay homage to our second aunt and grandmother. In just one morning, we visited four places and paid homage to five deceased relatives. On April 4, the official day of Qingming Festival, every household in Chaozhou sets up an altar in their homes to worship their ancestors. We arrived at the second uncle's house by tricycle early in the morning. The second uncle had already prepared the items for worship. We sat and chatted for a while. When the third uncle and nephews arrived, we started to kowtow to our ancestors in turn. Everyone looked solemn and respectful. Even the nephew's son knelt down in a sensible way. Everyone was immersed in the atmosphere of missing their old friends and being grateful for life. April, Qingming Festival, is really a time to remember our ancestors. In this season, we miss yesterday and old friends. We are grateful to our ancestors and grateful to life. With the practice of our elders, traditional etiquette and customs have been edifying generations after generations...