清明节 Ching Ming Festival
Ching Ming Festival is one of the 24 segments in Chinese calendar. It normally falls on the 4th or 5th of April because it's depended on the Cold Food Day (105 days after previous year's winter solstice). In the old days, Ching Ming was celebrated 3 days after the Cold Food Day but Cold Food Day was shorted to one day and then abandoned. So nowadays, Ching Ming and Cold Food Day fall on the same day although no one celebrate Cold Food Day any more. Ching Ming is also known as "Remembrance of Ancestors Day" or 'Grave Sweeping Day'.
On Ching Ming, the whole family will visit their ancestors or relatives' graves. I remember when I was little, we had to catch a diesel train to north New Territories to do grave sweeping. As a kid, I always find it scary when the train go through the dark tunnel of the hill. But there is no more diesel trains running in HK now. If you want to see one, you can find it in the Railway museum in Tai Po Market.
We have to carry incense sticks, joss sticks and paper offerings like paper money and paper clothes and any other paper accessories, depends how serious your family is with this thing. All paper offerings will be burnt for they believe that the relatives can receive the goods and even 'money' this way. As a kid, I am always asked to carry a bunch of flower. Chrysanthemum is normally chosen so don't give Chrysanthemum to Chinese people as gift coz it's a funeral/grave sweeping use flowers, although some households may find it to display home on normal days.
Food like roasted suckling pig, steamed chicken, fruit and wine are offered during the ceremony. Then we will eat it up after the worshipping.
There were children in scruffy looking t-shirts offering you a red piece of paper and a stone to put on top of the grave stone. My family never explains to me what it's for but I suppose red always implies luck so maybe it helps to bring good luck to the dead person? In return, you are supposed to give a few dollars to the children to buy this red paper.
There were also poor teenagers or adults carrying sickles and offer weeding services around the grave stones. As our family visits the graves twice a year (Ching Ming and Chung Yeung), we can manage with a pair of scissors!
Some superstitious people even carry willow branches with them or hang it on the front door. It's believed that willows help to get rid of evil spirits, when Ching Ming is one of the days that ghosts and spirits wander about.
參考答案:清明节是中国农历24个节气之一.它通常在四月四号或者五号到来，因为它取决于寒食节（又叫二月二龙抬头）（前一年冬至后105天）。在古代，清明节在寒食节后三天被庆祝但是寒食节曾经被缩短到一天然后被取消了。因此如今，尽管已经没人再庆祝寒食节，但清明节和寒食节落在同一天。清明节也被称为“纪念祖先日”或“扫墓日”。
清明节这天，整家都回去探访祖先或亲戚的坟墓。我记得当我小的时候，我们得坐燃柴油火车去北部新开发区扫墓。还是孩子的时候，我总觉得火车通过黑漆漆的山体隧道时很恐怖。但是如今在香港已经不再有燃柴油的火车了。如果你想去见见，你可以在Tai Po市场附近的铁路博物馆发现它的踪迹。
我们得带着香、神像和纸祭品像是纸钱纸衣服和其他一些纸做的辅助品，带这些东西全看你家对这回事有多看重。所有的纸祭品要被烧掉，因为人们相信通过这种方式被祭祀的亲戚会（在阴间）收到这些东西甚至是“钱”。当我还是孩子的时候，我总是被告知要带一捧花。菊花通常是人们祭祀的最佳选择，因此不要送中国人菊花当礼物因为出殡/扫墓要用菊花，虽然一些家庭可能会在日常也把它摆在家里。
食物诸如烤乳猪、蒸鸡、水果和酒会会在这个节日被提供。然后我们在拜完以后把它吃光。
有一些穿着破旧T恤的小孩会给你一张红纸和一块石头供你放到墓碑顶部。我家人从不向我解释它的用途但是我认为红色暗示幸运所以也许它被用来帮助死去的人带来好运？作为回报，你应给这些小孩一些钱买这张红纸。
也有一些贫穷的十几岁青年或成年人带着镰刀和野草摆在墓碑周围。因为我家一年要去扫2次坟（清明和重阳节），所以我们也可以用一把剪刀祭祀。
一些迷信的人甚至会随身带一些柳枝或把它挂在前门上。他们认为柳枝会帮助清除邪气，因为清明节是鬼和幽灵到处徘徊的日子之一.
