It was Qingming Festival on April 5th this week. We’re having a short time three days’ holiday right now. Out of the curiosity, I searched some information about the Qingming Festival.
这周的四月五号是清明节，我们正在享受三天小长假。出于好奇，我查了一些和清明节有关的资料。
Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival and an important day of sacrifice for most people to go and sweep tombs and commemorate their ancestors. On this day, tomb sweeping is one of the most important and popular activities to show respect to ancestors.
清明节是中国的传统节日，对很多人来说，这一天是很重要的祭祀祖先的日子，扫墓、吊唁先人是这一天里很重要的活动。
On May 20, 2006, this festival was listed as one of the first national intangible cultural heritage events.
2006年5月20，清明节被列为第一批非物质文化遗产之一。
There are kinds of activities for Qingming Festival. The most popular ones such as tomb upkeep and repair, putting willow branches on gate, spring outings and kite flying have been an important part of this festival.
清明节有很多活动，普遍的修葺墓地，在门上插杨柳枝，春游和放风筝等已经成为这个节日的重要的一部分。
Tomb Sweeping, is the most important custom of Qingming Festival. People commemorate and show respect to their ancestors by visiting their graves, offering food, or wine, burning incense, burning or offering joss paper - representing money, etc. They sweep the tombs, remove weeds, and might stick willow branches or flowers on the tomb. Actually the custom has been greatly simplified today, especially in cities. Many people may only put flowers to the dead relatives’ tombs.
扫墓，清明节最重要的习俗。人们来到先人的墓地，带着食物，或酒，燃起香，烧着冥间的黄纸，带着敬意，缅怀着先人。打扫一下祖先的坟墓，拔去杂草，有时候会把杨柳枝或者鲜花放在墓地上。其实今天这些习俗已经被大大简化了，尤其是在城市里，很多人可能只带着鲜花来到逝世的亲属墓地上。
Putting willow branches on gate is another custom of Qingming Festival. I still remember when I was a child, my mom always hanged a willow branch on our gate in the morning on the day of Qingming Festival. She said doing this could keep us out of potential danger. My mom protected me for her whole life. She hadn’t waited till I growing up and protecting her. It’s a sorrow subject and I don’t want to talk too much.
在门上插杨柳枝是清明的另一个习俗。我仍然记得当我还是个孩子的时候，每逢清明节，我妈咪一早就把杨柳枝挂在门上，她说这么做可以让我们免受灾难。妈咪护了我她的一生。她没能等到我长大保护她。这是一个忧伤的话题。我不想多提。
Qingming is also called Taqing Festival in some places. Taqing means a spring outing, when people get out and enjoy the spring blossoms. The festival usually falls on a day not long before everything turns green in the north, and well into the spring flower season in the south.
清明也叫做踏青节。踏青意味着春游，人们走出家门享受着春天的勃勃生机。清明节这个时间经常是北方马上就要全部变绿了，而南方已经进入了春天的花季。
Flying kites is also an important custom enjoyed by many people. In the past, people cut the string to let the kite fly freely. People believe that this custom can bring good luck and eliminate diseases. This is why you might sometimes find paper kites lying on the ground in parks and fields.
放风筝也是很多人喜欢的一个习俗。过去，有人剪断风筝线让风筝自由飞走，他们相信这个习俗可以帮助人们祛除疾病，带来好运。这就是为什么你可能会在公园或者田地里发现躺着的纸风筝。
The least but the most attracting item for Qingming Festival is, the food. The day before Tomb Sweeping Day was the traditional Chinese Cold Food Day. As time passed, the two festivals were gradually combined in to one. On the code food festival day, people used no fire and only ate cold food. Now people in some places still have the custom of eating cold food on Qingming Festival. Different places have different foods for the Tomb Sweeping Day. The traditional Qingming festival foods includ sweet green rice balls — one of my favorite snacks, peach blossom porridge, crispy cakes, eggs and so on. These foods are usually cooked one or two days before the Qingming Festival so people can eat and recreate during the holidays.
清明节最后却是最吸引人的一条，那就是，食物。扫墓前一天是中国传统的寒食节，但是随着时间的流逝，这两个节日逐渐合为一体了。在寒食节，人们不能用火，只能吃冷的食物。现在有些地方的人仍然保留了清明节吃冷食的习惯。清明不同地方有不同的小吃。传统的清明节食物有青团 — 我最爱的零食之一，桃花粥，脆皮蛋糕，鸡蛋等等。这些食物通常在清明节日前一两天做好，在节日里，人们可以直接吃或者稍微加工下就可以吃了。
