Tomb-Sweeping Day is the most solemn festival for ancestor worship of the Chinese nation, and it belongs to a traditional cultural festival for ancestor worship. Tomb-Sweeping Day embodies the national spirit, inherits the sacrificial culture of Chinese civilization, and expresses people's moral feelings of respecting and honoring their ancestors. Grave-sweeping is "grave-sweeping sacrifice", which is called "respecting time" for ancestors. Spring and Autumn Festival has existed since ancient times.
Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, which originated from ancient ancestral beliefs and spring sacrifices. According to the research results of modern anthropology and archaeology, the two most primitive beliefs of human beings are the belief in heaven and earth and the belief in ancestors. The establishment of the ancient branch calendar provided decisive conditions for the formation of festivals. Ancestor belief and sacrificial culture were important factors in the formation of ancestral worship custom in Qingming Festival.
According to archaeological excavations, a 10,000-year-old tomb was found at the Qingtang site in Yingde, Guangdong Province, which is the earliest tomb in China, indicating that ancient ancestors had a clear sense of burial behavior and customs thousands of years ago. The custom of "grave-sweeping sacrifice" has a long history, and Qingming "grave-sweeping sacrifice" is the synthesis and sublimation of traditional spring customs.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is rich in customs, which can be summarized as two festivals and traditions: one is to respect the ancestors and be cautious to the end; The second is outing and getting close to nature. Tomb-Sweeping Day not only has the theme of sweeping, remembering and remembering, but also has the theme of taking an outing and enjoying the body and mind. The traditional concept of "harmony between man and nature" has been vividly reflected in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Through historical development, Tomb-Sweeping Day has integrated the customs of the Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival in Tang and Song Dynasties, and integrated various folk customs, which has extremely rich cultural connotations.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, with both natural and humanistic connotations, is not only one of the "24 solar terms", but also a traditional festival for ancestor worship. "Twenty-four solar terms" is the product of ancient farming civilization, which not only plays a guiding role in agricultural production, but also affects ancient people's food, clothing, housing and transportation, and even cultural concepts.