Also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Pure Brightness Festival is held on either the 5th or 6th of April, around the time of the Spring Equinox. Its origins lie with a festival which is no longer so widely celebrated, the Hanshi Festival.
Falling a day or two before the Pure Brightness Festival, the Cold Festival or Smoke-Banning Festival commemorated Jie Zitui, a court official in the Spring and Autumn Period. A civil war broke out in the state of Jin and the prince had to go abroad to escape. For nineteen years, Jie was loyal to the prince and later, when the prince became king, he rewarded all those who had been loyal to him while he was in exile; all except Jie. People said he should ask for a reward but, as this was not the reason he was loyal, he packed his bags and went into the mountains with his mother.
When the king received news of this, shame made him take some people to look for Jie and his mother on the mountain, but the hard roads made the task arduous. On advice from one of his companions, the king set light to the forest but there was still no sign of Jie. Later, Jie and his mother were found dead under a willow tree with a note in blood saying he would rather be a ghost than a loyal minister and to ask his lord to remember him. He could now be pure and bright forever in the afterworld.
Thus the king declared this day the Hanshi Festival and ordered no fire must be lit throughout the land on this day. The following year, the same willow tree was blossoming again. This became the Pure Bright Willow and the day after the festival became the Pure Brightness Festival.
This day is when people sweep clean the tombs of their ancestors, offer sacrifices to them, plant willows and go for country walks. The respect shown to the dead on this day is called shangfen – sweeping the tombs – and it is marked by burning incense and paper money.
Now that cremation is becoming more popular, people are having to find other ways of honouring their late relatives, but it remains an important festival.
The weather at this time of year is perfect for country walks, known by the ancients as Taqing – hence the festival’s other name, the Taqing Festival. To discourage spirits and prevent disasters, people wear sprigs of willow; fresh potherb is picked by women and girls and dumplings made of them; and agricultural proverbs abound because this time of year is fertile.
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