Ching Ming Festival 2019

Εξευμενίζοντας τα νερά του Dujiang Dam στο Qingming Festival

Η πόλη της Dujiangyan στην Κίνα είναι διάσημη για το αρχαίο αρδευτικό της σύστημα το οποίο κτίστηκε 2,300 χρόνια πριν!

Τώρα βέβαια είναι η πόλη που έγινε γνωστή από τους καταστροφικούς της σεισμούς που ευθύνονται για τους θανάτους πολλών ανθρώπων!

Κάθε Απρίλη με αφορμή το Qingming Festival γίνονται θυσίες για το νερό και μνημονεύεται η μνήμη όλων αυτών που έχασαν τη ζωή τους από αυτό!

Ching Ming Festival is one of China’s largest events based off of the lunar calendar. Ching Ming officially starts 104 days after the winter solstice. The festival usually begins on April 4th or 5th, but activities may start as early as 10 days prior.

In English, Ching Ming is often referred to as Tomb Sweeping Day or Pure Brightness because of the holiday’s events. The primary role of the Ching Ming Festival is to pay respect to ancestors. While many Chinese holidays are oriented around ancestor worship, Ching Ming is the largest. Filial piety is a central aspect of traditional Chinese culture, so it should come as no surprise that this is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the Middle Kingdom. Nearly every ethnic group in China celebrates Ching Ming in one way or another. Ching Ming is also a celebration of spring because of the incoming planting season in most of China.

Legend

According to Chinese stories and folklore, the Ching Ming Festival got its start sometime between 700 and 500 BCE. Legend states that a man named Jie Zitui, a loyal servant of a Chinese lord, helped his lord survive through exile. In order to prevent his lord from starving to death, Jie cut meat from his own leg and fed it to his lord. Surviving this ordeal, the lord returned to power 19 years later.

 

By this time, the lord had forgotten about Jie’s service. Sometime later, the lord remembered Jie and felt regretful about forgetting. The lord intended to reward Jie, but by the time he found him, Jie had passed away. To honor the life and death of Jie, the lord established Ching Ming as a holiday to commemorate the dead.

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