Essentials for Ancestral Worship on Qingming Festival! A Complete Guide to Preparing Offerings, Tending Graves, Bowing, and Burning Paper Money

Qingming Festival is one of China’s traditional festivals and an important day for ancestral worship. To let ancestors rest in peace in the other world and to pass on the cultural traditions of the Chinese nation, many people return to their hometowns on this day to tend graves and pay respects to their ancestors.

To help everyone handle ancestral worship more skillfully on Qingming Festival, here is a guide to ancestral worship:

1. Timing: On the day of Qingming Festival, it is recommended to complete the worship of the ancestral graves and the Earth God before 15:00, while the worship of the Foundation Lord should be completed before 17:00 in the afternoon.
2. Preparing offerings: When worshipping ancestors, you need to prepare offerings such as the three sacrificial meats, fruit, eggs, and ancestral worship gold. These offerings represent filial piety and gratitude and are also a way to express respect.
3. Tending graves and repairing tombs: Before ancestral worship, you need to repair the ancestral graves first and press some paper money on the grave soil, representing adding new tiles for the ancestors or that someone has paid respects. You also need to maintain the tidiness of the ancestral graves, clean the surroundings, and remove weeds to express respect for the ancestors.
4. Bowing and burning paper money: When all preparations are complete, begin the worship by bowing first, then burn paper money to express respect and remembrance for the ancestors.
5. Arranging offerings in the kitchen: The worship of the Foundation Lord is completed before 17:00 in the afternoon, requiring offerings to be arranged in the kitchen, such as rice dishes, fruit, and Foundation Lord gold. Bow from the outside facing inward first, then burn paper money.

In short, ancestral worship is a way to express respect and gratitude to ancestors and an important means of preserving traditional culture.

When worshipping ancestors, prepare the offerings well, repair the ancestral graves, and follow the traditional worship procedures to express filial piety and gratitude, so that you can receive the blessings and protection of your ancestors. Wishing everyone auspiciousness and good fortune in ancestral worship on Qingming Festival!

References

1. The Correct Time to Go Out During the Qingming Festival Holiday, with NT$0 Free Toll Discounts on National Highways!
2. 2023 Long Holiday Calendar: 112th Year National Holidays and Lunar New Year Schedule for Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu (Including Holiday Makeup Days and Makeup Workdays)