如何向外國朋友介紹清明節(jié)

The Qingming (Pure Brightness) Festival is one of the 24 seasonaldivision points in China, falling on April 4-6 each year. After thefestival, the temperature will rise up and rainfall increases. Itis the high time for spring plowing and sowing. But the QingmingFestival is not only a seasonal point to guide farm work, it ismore a festival of commemoration。

The Qingming Festival sees a combination of sadness andhappiness。

This is the most important day of sacrifice. Both the Han and minorityethnic groups at this time offer sacrifices to their ancestors andsweep the tombs of the diseased. Also, they will not cook on thisday and only cold food is served。

The Hanshi (Cold Food) Festival was usually one day before the QingmingFestival. As our ancestors often extended the day to the Qingming,they were later combined。

Oneach Qingming Festival, all cemeteries are crowded with people whocame to sweep tombs and offer sacrifices. Traffic on the way to thecemeteries becomes extremely jammed. The customs have been greatlysimplified today. After slightly sweeping the tombs, people offerfood, flowers and favorites of the dead, then burn incense andpaper money and bow before the memorial tablet。

Incontrast to the sadness of the tomb sweepers, people also enjoyhope of Spring on this day. The Qingming Festival is a time whenthe sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green andnature is again lively. Since ancient times, people have followedthe custom of Spring outings. At this time tourists areeverywhere。

Peoplelove to fly kites during the Qingming Festival. Kite flying isactually not limited to the Qingming Festival. Its uniqueness liesin that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. Astring of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread looklike shining stars, and therefore, are called "god'slanterns."

TheQingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survivalrate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. In the past,the Qingming Festival was called "Arbor Day". But since 1979,"Arbor Day" was settled as March 12 according to the Gregoriancalendar。

清明是我國的二十四節(jié)氣之一。由于二十四節(jié)氣比較客觀地反映了一年四季氣溫、降雨、物候等方面的變化，所以古代勞動(dòng)人民用它安排農(nóng)事活動(dòng)。但是，清明作為節(jié)日，與純粹的節(jié)氣又有所不同。節(jié)氣是我國物候變化、時(shí)令順序的標(biāo)志，而節(jié)日則包含著一定的風(fēng)俗活動(dòng)和某種紀(jì)念意義。因此，這個(gè)節(jié)日中既有祭掃新墳生別死離的悲酸淚，又有踏青游玩的歡笑聲，是一個(gè)富有特色的節(jié)日。

清明節(jié)是我國傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日，也是最重要的祭祀節(jié)日，是祭祖和掃墓的日子。掃墓俗稱上墳，祭祀死者的一種活動(dòng)。漢族和一些少數(shù)民族大多都是在清明節(jié)掃墓。由于清明與寒食的日子接近，而寒食是民間禁火掃墓的日子，漸漸的，寒食與清明就合二為一了，而寒食既成為清明的別稱，也變成為清明時(shí)節(jié)的一個(gè)習(xí)俗，清明之日不動(dòng)煙火，只吃涼的食品。

按照舊的習(xí)俗，掃墓時(shí)，人們要攜帶酒食果品、紙錢等物品到墓地，將食物供祭在親人墓前，再將紙錢焚化，為墳?zāi)古嗌闲峦粒蹘字δ劬G的新枝插在墳上，然后叩頭行禮祭拜，最后吃掉酒食回家。58en.com

與清明節(jié)掃墓的悲哀相反，人們在這個(gè)春光明媚的日子里，也一樣是可以享受生活的。

放風(fēng)箏也是清明時(shí)節(jié)人們所喜愛的活動(dòng)。每逢清明時(shí)節(jié)，人們不僅白天放，夜間也放。夜里在風(fēng)箏下或風(fēng)穩(wěn)拉線上掛上一串串彩色的小燈籠，象閃爍的明星，被稱為“神燈”。

清明前后，春陽照臨，春陽照臨，春雨飛灑，種植樹苗成活率高，成長快。因此，自古以來，我國就有清明植樹的習(xí)慣。有人還把清明節(jié)叫作“植樹節(jié)”。植樹風(fēng)俗一直流傳至今。1979年，人大常委會(huì)規(guī)定，每年三月十二日為我國植樹節(jié)。這對動(dòng)員全國各族人民積極開展綠化祖國活動(dòng)，有著十分重要的意義。