It is that time of the year when Chinese families across the world gather at the graves of their relatives to observe the Qingming Festival or the Tomb Sweeping Day.
The private festival usually occurs on April 4 or 5 and marks the occasion for Chinese to enjoy the outdoors and tend to the graves of the departed souls.
Chinese legends say that the Duke Jin Wen or Prince Chonger (697-628 BC), who reigned the state of Jin, was expelled from the royal court by a displeased concubine, forcing him to live in exile for three years. He was assisted by loyal friend and advisor Jie Zitui during his exile until he could regain his throne.
However, in the course of time, Jie was at the receiving end of the king's ire, who burned down a mountain to force his loyal companion out. Later, a remorseful king designated a day on which Jie's memory would be honored.
The tomb-sweeping tradition is kept alive to date, with Chinese families cleaning and sweeping graves, worshipping their ancestors, offering food and burning paper structures.
The Chinese pray before the graves, sweep the tombs and offer food, tea, wine, chopsticks and joss paper accessories. Some people adorn their doorstep with willow branches as the tradition says the willow branches help ward off the evil spirits.
The tradition has gone through several modernizing transformations over the years. According to the Shanghai Daily, high-quality paper iPhones and iPads costing 100 yuan (about $15) have become the latest fad among those who burn paper structures during the festival.
Click on 'Start' to view the vignettes of the festival.
A man cleans up the tomb of his ancestors in a public cemetery in Taipei during Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, April 4, 2012. The festival, which falls on April 4 this year, is a day for Chinese to visit the graves of ancestors to clean tombstones and burn offerings aimed at appeasing the dead in the afterlife. REUTERS/Pichi ChuangMembers of the Hsu family arrange colored papers to decorate the tomb of their ancestors in a public cemetery in Taipei during Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day. The festival, which falls on April 4 this year, is a day for Chinese to visit the graves of ancestors to clean tombstones and burn offerings aimed at appeasing the dead in the afterlife.REUTERS/Pichi ChuangA man stands among tombstones at a public cemetery before the Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day, in Guangzhou, Guangdong province April 3, 2012. Chinese experts have called for legislative efforts to standardize funeral services, in an attempt to regulate the country's unscrupulous funeral service providers who siphon huge profits from the relatives of the dead, Xinhua News Agency reported. REUTERS/StringerResidents burn paper money, as an offering to their dead relatives, at the roadside on the Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, in Beijing April 5, 2011. The festival, which falls annually on April 5 in China, is a day for the Chinese to remember and honor their ancestors. REUTERS/Jason LeeFlowers are seen in front of a board showing portraits of former red guards on their grave at the Red Guard Cemetery before Qingming festival in Chongqing municipality, April 2, 2012. The aged former Red Guard leader Tang Dahua says memories of the fanatical bloodshed that once tore apart Chongqing in southwest China still return to him with unsettling vividness. Decades after Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution made Chongqing a bloody ideological battleground, the riverside megacity, China's largest, is at the heart of a different political storm - one that has exposed rifts inside the ruling Communist Party after the ouster of the city's charismatic leader, Bo Xilai. REUTERS/StringerA woman kneels next to her relatives as they pay respects in front of a grave of their ancestors at the Red Guard Cemetery before Qingming festival in Chongqing municipality, April 2, 2012. REUTERSA man reacts as he burns a paper villa as an offering in front of tombstones of his ancestors at a public cemetery before the Qingming Festival, or Tomb-sweeping Day, in Xiangyang, Hubei province April 3, 2011.
REUTERSA vendor folds paper money in the shape of lotus used as offerings to ancestors, in front of her stall at a public cemetery in Taipei during Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, April 5, 2011. REUTERS
