LGDD Qingming Festival Holiday Notice

LGDD Qingming Festival holiday notice

Qingming Festival, also known as Taqing Festival, Qingqing Festival, March Festival, Ancestor Worship Festival, etc., between April 4 and 6 every year, is a festival of sacrifice, ancestor worship and tomb sweeping . Qingming Festival is derived from ancestral beliefs and spring rituals in ancient times, with both natural and humanistic connotations. It is not only a natural solar term point, but also a traditional festival . Qingming Festival, together with the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, are known as the four major traditional Chinese festivals.
According to legend, Tomb-sweeping Day began as the "tomb offering" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals, about the Zhou Dynasty, which has a history of more than 2,500 years. Tomb-sweeping Day was originally just the name of a solar term, and it became a festival to commemorate ancestors related to the Cold Food Festival . The Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival are two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of worship and tomb sweeping was designated as the Cold Food Festival . In the Song and Yuan dynasties, Qingming Festival gradually rose from the status of attached to Cold Food Festival to replace the status of cold Food Festival. The Ming and Qing dynasties generally followed the old system of the previous generation, and the custom of worshipping ancestors and mourning deceased relatives was still prevalent during the Qingming Festival. Influenced by Han culture, all ethnic minorities in China have had the custom of Tomb-sweeping Day. Although the customs vary from place to place, the basic theme of Tomb-sweeping Day is to sweep tombs and worship ancestors. In addition, there are many outdoor recreational activities such as swinging, cuju, kite flying, tree planting, tug-of-war, and eating food customs such as Zituyan, Li cheese and Qingtuan . In addition to China, there are some countries and regions in the world also celebrate Qingming Festival, such as Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.
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. In 2008, Jiangyan City, Jiangsu Province, Qingming Festival was included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects list . In 2011, the Qingming Festival of Jiexiu City in Shanxi Province was included in the third batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects list .
In Qingming Festival 2024, LGDD will be on holiday from April 4 to April 6, with a total of three days off.