Chapter 18 Section 3 Ching Ming Festival: Tomb-sweeping, Hanging Paper and Eating Ai Bo

Tomb-sweeping day is a festival for Chinese folks to go out and visit graves.The Hakka people, who have a tradition of respecting their ancestors, pay special attention to this.Before the festival, people pound glutinous rice cakes, make sweet rice cakes, buy meat and buy wine.In the early morning of the Ching Ming Festival, the family slaughtered a rooster, dripped the blood of the rooster on pieces of yellow paper, and cooked the rooster.So, the whole family, old and young, carried a set of sacrifices, sickles and hoes, and came to the ancestor's tomb.They first cut off the weeds around the tomb, repaired and filled the soil, and then hung the yellow table paper dripping with chicken blood on the tomb, pressing it with mud, which is called hanging paper.By the way, the Hakka people worship the land, and the tomb-sweeping paper can only be made of soil blocks, not stones or other things to press the tomb head paper.Afterwards, they placed various offerings on the tomb platform, burned incense and candles, burned incense in order of seniority, and paid homage to the ancestors who had been buried in the ground.After the sacrifice, burn the yellow paper, set off firecrackers, and go home with the sacrifices.If the road is far away, I will borrow kitchens from nearby people to cook the sacrifices and enjoy them together.If the ancestral tomb is built in a remote mountain where there are no other people, it is necessary to dig a cooking stove near the cemetery for a picnic.Everyone gathers for a picnic, not only hanging paper to visit the tomb, reminiscing about ancestors, but also enjoying youth outings and delicious meals with unique mountain and wild tastes.

On Ching Ming Festival, Hakka people also eat the seasonal "Qing Ming AI Bo".During the Ching Ming Festival, when everything prospers, the farmer’s woman carries a basket to pick fresh wormwood, and then finds fresh ramie leaves or litsea leaves, and vine leaves, washes them, mixes them with glutinous rice soaked in water, and puts them in stone pestles. Pound it into mugwort glutinous rice flour, mix it with brown sugar water, and steam it into green mugwort.Folks believe that AI Bo is not only fragrant and sweet, soft and delicious, but also has the effects of dehumidification, improving eyesight, clearing heat and detoxification, and reconciling women's menstruation.