Qingming Festival in March…

For Asians in general and Vietnamese in particular, the graves of their ancestors are very important. Everyone wants to have a “peaceful grave”, and there is a saying “living for the grave, no one lives for a bowl of rice”. What people fear most is “disturbing the grave”.

It is unclear when the custom of “sweeping graves” on the occasion of Qingming Festival began. In terms of the original meaning of the word, “Thanh” means “pure”, “clean” or “fresh”, “Minh” means bright. Qingming means the sky at that time was clear and bright. Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in the traditional Eastern calendar, usually falling around April 4 or 5 of the solar calendar, about half a month after the Spring Equinox.

In terms of weather, the climate in the North from the time of Thanh Minh onwards, drizzle and humidity have almost ended. The weather gradually turns to summer, becoming clearer and more pleasant. Therefore, after a winter, the grass and trees that have been hiding in the frost also have this opportunity to sprout and grow strongly.

In the past, almost all graves were located in the fields, covered with dirt, not built with solid bricks and cement like today. On this occasion, family members and relatives gathered to go to the fields to "sweep the graves", visiting all the graves of their ancestors. The thick grass was cleared, the missing land was filled in, the stele was washed, the words were re-inked, three incense sticks were lit and placed on the grave to show their remembrance.

“Visiting graves on Thanh Minh day is one of the most sacred acts of respect that the living can show to the dead. As we know, graves are respectfully preserved in Vietnam until the end of the family line. No one in the family has the right to move a grave, or even make a small change, without the agreement of the whole family,” scholar Nguyen Van Huyen wrote in a study.

“Of a hundred good deeds, filial piety comes first.” In deep filial piety, people celebrate the Qingming Festival every year. By performing rituals and visiting the graves of the deceased, the living not only strengthen the bond with their loved ones, “getting closer to the dead”, in the thought that “death is like birth, death is like existence”, it seems as if their loved ones are still somewhere nearby.

And when we are silent in the incense smoke, silent among the graves, meditating, in an invisible thread, we not only remember the figures who have "gone to the other side of the mountain" but also have the opportunity to think about our own lives. The finite and fragile human life. Then, like everyone else, we will only be a mound of earth "in this lonely life"...

“Thanh minh in the third lunar month/The ceremony is to visit graves, the festival is to go out in the fresh air” – Nguyen Du wrote in the Tale of Kieu. And Mr. Nguyen from Tien Dien village, who sympathized with the fragile lives of people, wrote “Elegy for Ten Kinds of Living Beings” and so sympathized with the ownerless graves: “The mounds of dirt on the side of the road are rustling/The grass is sad, half yellow, half green/Why is it that during the Thanh minh festival/The incense smoke here is so deserted”?

Most of the graves in the cemetery in Quang Ba have sunk and have not been cared for for a long time. (Photo: GH)

… By chance, during the Qingming Festival this year, I had the opportunity to visit a little-known cemetery right in the middle of Hanoi , in the “golden land” area along West Lake, located in Quang Ba ward. The cemetery of the Chinese community that once lived in Hanoi.

The vicissitudes of life and the vicissitudes of life have caused many graves in this cemetery to be left unattended, many of which have collapsed and flattened. Even the tombstones are tilted and half-submerged in the ground. The dense vegetation has become a complicated area, forcing the ward authorities to hang a sign saying “cemetery land, strictly prohibited from buying, selling or transferring”.

Thanh minh, light a stick of incense for the lonely souls and hope for a "reasonable" solution for the land. It is also a good deed to do!

Giang Hoang

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/thanh-minh-trong-tiet-thang-ba-post544932.html