Pure Brightness Festival
The words "pure brightness" suggests all things on earth come back to llfe in the
season of spring with clear weather. The season sees aU plants sprouting in bright
sunshine, thus it is a good time to make an excursion.
It was originally the 5'h of the 24 solar terms marking the sequence of time. it
developed into an important festival with the incorporation of the Cold Food Festival
celebration in the Tang and Song dynasties. During the festival, fire was banned and
people had cold food. It is intended to commemorate tie Zitui, a faithful minister of Jth
State in the Spring and Autumn Period (about 200O years ago). When his master, the
prince nearly fainted from hunger, tie Zitui cut a piece of flesh from his own thigh and
roasted it as food for the prince. When the prince became the King of tin, he offered to
reward tie Zitui. tie ZRui went to live with his mother in a mountainous area for he
would rather be ignored than ask for a reward. The king wanted to offer tie Zitui a
position, but he refused, so the king had a fire set to force lie out in vain. He and his
mother were found dead against a burnt willow stump with his mother on his back. The
regretful king ordered fire to be banned on the anniversary of his death.
People used to sweep their ancestors' tombs, go on spring outings, and transplant willow cuttings, The custom of transplanting willow cuttings is rarely observed now, yet
the custom of spring outing remains, People are encouraged to plant trees during this
period of time. People also had sports games of kicking balls, flying kites and swinging
during the festival.
Tomb sweeping is an important activity of the festivaI, in the past, family members
would gather and make a trip to their departed members' tombs. Upon reaching the
gravesites, they swept the tombs and offered sacrifices in front of the graves, The
activity was traced back to the Qin Dynasty (g21BC--206 BC). The capital's residents
went to the outskirts for tomb sweeping, Some people swept the tOlnbs by hurtling
incense and paper made to resemble bank notes and burned for the deceased, while others
rooted out weeds and earthed up tombs. They did it because they believed the graves
were home of the dead and needed taking good care of. The customs of sweeping tombs
and spring outings have lasted to the present. More and more people prefer to lay flowers
and wreaths at the tombs instead of burning paper money to prevent a fire and to protect
the environment.
The activity of tomb sweeping serves to pay homage to the dead and 1o consolidate
family ties of Chinese people who consider Yah Di and Huang Di are the forefathers of
all Chinese. Hence many Chinese pay homage to them in provinces such as Shaanxi,
Shanxi, Shandong and Henna.