清明节，又称踏青节、行清节、三月节、祭祖节等，节期在仲春与暮春之交。清明节源自上古时代的祖先信仰与春祭礼俗，兼具自然与人文两大内涵，既是自然节气点，也是传统节日。扫墓祭祖与踏青郊游是清明节的两大礼俗主题，这两大传统礼俗主题在中国自古传承，至今不辍。
Qingming Festival, also known as Stepping Youth Festival, Xingqing Festival, March Festival, Ancestor Worship Festival, etc., is held at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Derived from the ancestral beliefs and spring rituals of ancient times, Qingming Festival has both natural and humanistic connotations, which is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival. Tomb sweeping and ancestral outings 。are the two major ritual themes of the Qingming Festival, which have been passed down in China since ancient times and continue to this day.
清明节是中华民族古老的节日，既是一个扫墓祭祖的肃穆节日，也是人们亲近自然、踏青游玩、享受春天乐趣的欢乐节日。斗指乙（或太阳黄经达15°）为清明节气，交节时间在公历4月5日前后。这一时节，生气旺盛、阴气衰退，万物“吐故纳新”，大地呈现春和景明之象，正是郊外踏青春游与行清墓祭的好时节。清明祭祖节期很长，有10日前8日后及10日前10日后两种说法，这近20天内均属清明祭祖节期内。
Qingming Festival is an ancient festival of the Chinese nation, which is not only a solemn festival to visit tombs and worship ancestors, but also a joyful festival for people to get close to nature, play and enjoy the fun of spring. Douji B (or solar ecliptic longitude up to 15°) is the Qingming solar term, and the time of the festival is around April 5 in the Gregorian calendar. At this time, the vitality is vigorous, the yin qi is declining, all things "spit out the old and embrace the new", and the earth presents the image of spring and prosperity, which is a good time for youth travel in the suburbs and tomb sacrifices. The Qingming Ancestor Worship Festival is very long, there are two sayings: 10 days before 8 days and 10 days before and after 10 days, which are all during the Qingming Ancestor Worship Festival.
清明节是传统的重大春祭节日，扫墓祭祀、缅怀祖先，是中华民族自古以来的优良传统，不仅有利于弘扬孝道亲情、唤醒家族共同记忆，还可促进家族成员乃至民族的凝聚力和认同感。清明节融汇自然节气与人文风俗为一体，是天时地利人和的合一，充分体现了中华民族先祖们追求“天、地、人”的和谐合一，讲究顺应天时地宜、遵循自然规律的思想。清明节与春节、端午节、中秋节并称为中国四大传统节日。2006年5月20日，中华人民共和国文化部申报的清明节经国务院批准列入第一批国家级非物质文化遗产名录。
Qingming Festival is a traditional major spring festival, tomb sweeping sacrifices, remembering ancestors, is a fine tradition of the Chinese nation since ancient times, not only conducive to promoting filial piety and family affection, awakening the common memory of the family, but also promoting the cohesion and sense of identity of family members and even the nation. Qingming Festival integrates natural solar terms and humanistic customs, is the unity of the right time and place, fully embodies the ancestors of the Chinese nation in pursuit of the harmonious unity of "heaven, earth and man", and pays attention to the idea of conforming to the time and place and following the laws of nature. Qingming Festival, together with Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, is known as China's four traditional festivals. On May 20, 2006, the Qingming Festival declared by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
清明是中华民族古老的节日，它将节气日与民俗节日融为一体，是天时与人时的合一，清明礼俗文化充分体现了“天人合一”的传统观念。清明节在历史发展中融合了流行于北方地区的寒食节禁火、冷食习俗。传说寒食节是在春秋时代为纪念晋国的忠义之臣介子推而设立的节日，在民间传说中寒食节虽与介子推有关，但寒食起源，并非为纪念介子推，而是沿袭了上古的改火旧习，即如《周礼》所说“仲春以木铎修火禁于国中”。
Qingming is an ancient festival of the Chinese nation, which integrates solar terms and folk festivals, which is the unity of heavenly time and human time, and Qingming etiquette culture fully reflects the traditional concept of "the unity of heaven and man". Qingming Festival has integrated the cold food festival and cold food customs popular in the northern region in historical development. Legend has it that the Cold Food Festival was established in the Spring and Autumn Era to commemorate Jie Zitui, the loyal minister of the Jin Kingdom, and although the Cold Food Festival is related to Jie Zitui in folklore, the origin of the cold food is not to commemorate Jie Zitui, but to follow the old habit of changing fire in ancient times, that is, as said in the "Rite of Zhou", "Mid-spring is forbidden to repair fire in the middle of the country with Muduo".
寒食节是流传于中国北方中原一带古代较早的节日，寒食节初为节时，禁烟火、只吃冷食，在后世的发展中逐渐增加了上坟祭扫、秋千、蹴鞠、牵勾、斗鸡等风俗。由于北方寒冷，春三月气温上升正值改火的时节，人们在新火未到之时，要禁止生火。汉代称寒食节为禁烟节，因为这天百姓人家不得举火，到了晚上才由宫中点燃烛火，并将火种传至贵戚重臣家中。据《后汉书》记载，最初的寒食节时间很长，最长的105天，最短的也要近1个月。寒食节期间不得生火，只能生食，对人的健康不利。
The Cold Food Festival is an earlier festival in ancient times spread in the Central Plains of northern China, when the Cold Food Festival was the first festival, smoking was not allowed to fire, only cold food was eaten, and in the development of later generations, customs such as tomb sacrifice sweeping, swinging, kicking, hooking, cockfighting and so on were gradually added. Due to the cold in the north, the temperature rises in spring and March to coincide with the season of changing fires, and people are forbidden to start fires when new fires have not arrived. The Han Dynasty called the Cold Food Festival a no-smoking festival, because on this day the people were not allowed to raise fires, and only at night did candles be lit in the palace and the fire passed on to the homes of noble and heavy ministers. According to the Book of the Later Han, the original Hanshi Festival was very long, the longest was 105 days, and the shortest was nearly 1 month. During the Cold Food Festival, no fire should be lit, only raw food, which is not good for people's health.
从文献记载可知，先秦时期中国北方一些地方已有比较严格的禁火制度，从官方到民间都有改火的习俗。成书于两汉之间的《周礼》即明确记载当时有“司炬”之官，每当仲春季节，气候干燥，不仅人类保存的火种容易引起火灾，而且春雷发生也易引起山火。古人在这个季节往往要进行隆重的祭祀活动，把上一年传下来的火种全部熄灭，即是“禁火”。然后重新钻燧取出新火，作为新一年生产与生活的起点，谓之“改火”。
From the documentary records, it can be seen that some places in northern China in the pre-Qin period had a relatively strict fire ban system, and there were customs of changing fire from the official to the people. The "Rite of Zhou", written between the two Han Dynasties, clearly records that there was an official of the "Si Ju" at that time, and every mid-spring, the climate was dry, and not only the fire preserved by human beings was easy to cause fires, but also the occurrence of spring thunder was easy to cause mountain fires. The ancients often carried out solemn sacrifices during this season to extinguish all the fires handed down from the previous year, that is, the "forbidden fire". Then re-drill the fire and take out the new fire, as the starting point of production and life in the new year, which is called "changing the fire".
在禁火与改火期间，人们必须准备足够的熟食以冷食度日。由于古代的禁火制度过于残酷和严厉，并不顾各地具体情况，甚至影响到民众的生产和生活。于是，汉代发生了周举在太原一带废除禁火陋俗的事件。汉代的寒食节，很多地方要禁火一个月，到了唐代，寒食节变成三天，分别叫大寒食、官寒食、小寒食。唐朝之后，寒食节逐渐式微。宋元时期，清明节的地位上升到取代寒食节的地位。
During the fire ban and fire change period, people must prepare enough cooked food to live cold. Because the ancient fire ban system was too cruel and severe, it did not care about the specific conditions of each place, and even affected the production and life of the people. As a result, the Han Dynasty saw the abolition of the fire ban in the Taiyuan area by Zhou Ju. In the Han Dynasty, many places had to ban fire for a month, and in the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival became three days, which were called big cold food, official cold food, and small cold food. After the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival gradually declined. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the status of the Qingming Festival rose to replace the status of the Cold Food Festival.
清明节还融合了另外一个较早出现的节日—上巳节的习俗内容。上巳节，俗称三月三。上巳节是古代举行“祓除畔浴”活动中最重要的节日，人们结伴去水边沐浴，称为“祓禊”，此后又增加了祭祀宴饮、曲水流觞、郊外游春等内容。上古时代以“干支”纪日，三月上旬的第一个巳日，谓之“上巳”。“上巳”一词最早出现在汉代文献，《周礼》郑玄注：“岁时祓除，如今三月上巳如水上之类。”魏晋以后，上巳节的节期改为阴历三月初三，故又称“重三”或“三月三”。
Qingming Festival also incorporates the customs of another earlier festival, the Shangcheng Festival. Shangshi Festival, commonly known as the third of March. The Shangshi Festival is the most important festival held in ancient times, in which people go to the water's edge to bathe, called "Qiyu", and since then added sacrificial feasts and drinks, meandering waters, and outings to spring travel. In ancient times, the "dry branch" day was used, and the first day in early March was called "upper branch". The word "Shangxi" first appeared in Han Dynasty documents, and Zheng Xuan noted in the "Rite of Zhou": "When the time was removed, now the March is like water." After the Wei and Jin dynasties, the festival period of the Shangxi Festival was changed to the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, so it was also called "heavy three" or "third of March".
上巳节主要风俗是郊外游春、春浴、祓禊（临河洗浴，以祈福消灾）等。古代，每逢三月时令，人们都去水边祭祀。晋代陆机有诗写到：“迟迟暮春日，天气柔且嘉。元吉隆初巳，濯秽游黄河。”即是当时人们在上巳节祓禊、踏青的生动写照，诚如唐代大诗人王维诗句“少年分日作遨游，不用清明兼上巳”。到了宋代，上巳节逐渐销声匿迹，不见于文献记载。
The main customs of the festival are spring bathing in the countryside, spring bathing, and yuzen (bathing near the river to pray for blessings and eliminating disasters). In ancient times, during the March season, people went to the water's edge to make sacrifices. A poem by Lu Ji in the Jin Dynasty wrote: "Late in the twilight of spring, the weather is soft and beautiful." Yuan Jilong first summit, maundy swimming the Yellow River. It is a vivid portrayal of people at that time in the Shangcheng Festival and stepping on the Qingqing, just like the poem of the great poet Wang Wei of the Tang Dynasty, "Young people travel in different days, and do not need to be Qingming and Shangxi". In the Song Dynasty, the Shangxi Festival gradually disappeared and was not found in the literature.
