**Festival of the Dead (Tomb-Sweeping Day or Qingming Festival) Customs:**

The Festival of the Dead, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day or Qingming Festival, is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on April 4 or 5 each year according to the lunar calendar. It's a time for honoring the deceased ancestors and is rich in customs and traditions:
1. **Visiting Ancestors' Tombs**: Families gather to pay their respects to their ancestors by cleaning tombstones, repairing graves, and offering paper money, food, and other symbolic items to ensure their souls are well taken care of.
2. **Tomb Sweeping**: This practice involves sweeping the graves, cleaning tombstones, and placing offerings of food and drinks to honor the spirits of the deceased.
3. **Offerings**: Common offerings include joss sticks, incense, paper money (burnt as a symbolic gesture), fruits, tea, rice, and meat. Some families also create paper replicas of houses, cars, and other goods to represent the deceased's current life and future prosperity.
4. **Eating Zongzi**: Zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, are traditionally eaten during the Qingming Festival. It is said that the shape of the dumplings resembles the leaves of the bamboo plant, which was used as a traditional burial material in ancient China.
5. **Fireworks and Firecrackers**: Some people believe that fireworks and firecrackers help to ward off evil spirits and attract the spirits of ancestors back to their family homes.
6. **Wearing Green**: It is a custom to wear greenery on Qingming, as green is considered a color of rebirth and renewal, symbolizing the growth of the new life that follows the winter.
7. **Planting Trees**: In many areas, it is customary to plant willow trees on Tomb-Sweeping Day, as willow is a symbol of the afterlife and growth.
8. **Pilgrimages**: Some people visit sacred Buddhist or Taoist temples to pray for their ancestors' souls. In some regions, the festival is marked by processions or parades that include drumming and cymbals.
**Introduction to the Festival of the Dead:**
The Festival of the Dead is an ancient tradition that dates back to the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC). It is based on the belief in ancestor worship, a core principle in Confucianism, which posits that the dead continue to influence the living. The holiday is not only a time for remembrance but also for reflection on the cycle of life and the importance of filial piety.
During this festival, Chinese people pay their respects not only to their own ancestors but also to the spirits of the deceased in general. It is a day of mourning and celebration, marking the end of winter and the beginning of spring, when nature is reborn. The practices of the Festival of the Dead are not only deeply rooted in Chinese culture but also have a significant impact on the daily lives of people across the country.
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