Source: Beijing Daily
Original title: For the three days of the Qingming holiday, 1.059 million people in the city will sweep the graves of a new type of civilized sacrifice.
During the Qingming Festival, 231 sacrificial and sweeping sites in the city received a total of 1.059 million people. On the peak day of sacrifice sweeping, each sacrifice sweeping point introduced convenience measures to ensure the smooth and orderly Qingming sacrifice sweeping. Under the advocacy of green Qingming and civilized sacrificial sweeping, citizens have adopted offering flowers instead of burning incense and burning paper, no open fires, and no garbage. New ways of sacrificial sweeping are becoming common practice.
Garbage reduction in ritual sweeping sites
April 5th is the Qingming Festival, the city ushered in the peak of the Qingming Festival. On the same day, 231 sacrificial and sweeping sites in the city received a total of 435,000 people.
As one of the largest cemeteries in the city, Babaoshan People’s Cemetery received 11,279 worshippers on April 5. From 6:00 in the morning, people with flowers in their arms entered the garden to worship. Unlike the Qingming Festival in previous years, the crowds on the peak day of sacrifice sweeping in 2022 are still the same, but in the past, the situation of white garbage everywhere following the sacrifice sweeping was greatly improved.
“In previous years, citizens would take a lot of things in their hands when they were offering sacrifices, and some even brought water with mineral water bottles and plastic bags. After the sacrifices were over, the whole garden was full of white garbage left over.” Zhao Fan, a staff member, introduced that he followed suit. In recent years, there have been more and more and more detailed services for the cleaning of the people during the Qingming Festival. Citizens no longer have to carry a pile of things to sweep the tomb, and naturally produce much less white garbage.
In 2022, the People’s Cemetery will introduce a number of measures in terms of convenience services, and will continue to provide free buckets, towels, brushes and other sacrifice-sweeping supplies to the masses. For the convenience of elderly citizens, the cemetery has also prepared 400 carts. In addition, the People’s Cemetery has added points for sharing water buckets at each water intake point for the convenience of citizens. The cemetery’s service measures to “reduce the burden” for the sacrifice sweep not only facilitate the masses, but also achieve the effect of reducing the amount of garbage.
In 2022, the Babaoshan People’s Cemetery has also stepped up the activity of sending flowers for free, increasing the number of chrysanthemums distributed for free from 80,000 to nearly 120,000, which has been well received by the public.
Incense burning paper is getting less and less
“Promote civilized sacrificial sweeping, and put an end to burning incense and paper.” In Futian Cemetery, such a slogan is particularly eye-catching. In 2022, in order to advocate civilized sacrifice and sweeping, Futian Cemetery will launch the “Space-Time Mailbox” for the first time while continuing to carry out the “Flowers for Paper Money” activity.
During the Qingming Festival, the magnolias, apricot flowers, and elm plums in the Futian Cemetery are in bloom, and the garden is full of flowers. Combining its own characteristics, Futian Cemetery has carried out the activity of “Sending Mourning on Clouds and Talking About Family Love”. A “space-time mailbox” has been set up in the park. Citizens are invited to write their thoughts on postcards and “deliver” their family love.
According to Liu Yongping, a spokesman for Futian Cemetery, following the publicity and guidance in recent years, more and more citizens bring flowers and paper money.
Since smoking and burning incense and paper are strictly prohibited in cemeteries, the “no smoking” civilized sacrificial sweep has gradually become a mainstream form of prudence and pursuit.
During the Qingming Festival, the city vigorously advocated low-carbon sacrificial sweeping, abandoned uncivilized behaviors such as burning paper on the street, and organized public civilization guides to distribute civilized sacrificial sweeping propaganda materials, which received good results. The city has also launched platforms such as “Electronic Map of Beijing Martyrs Memorial Facilities” and “Qingming Online Sacrifice Sweeping Platform”, with more than 1.31 million people participating in the online sacrifice sweeping.
Affected by the epidemic, the city’s cleaning services on behalf of sacrifices have seen a significant increase. From March 19 to April 5, the city has completed a total of 5,559 Qingming Festival services, significantly exceeding the 3,397 in the same period in 2021. According to Xu Wei, a staff member of the Wanfo Overseas Chinese Cemetery, although it is a sacrificial sweep, the whole process is also full of warmth. With the changes in social concepts in recent years, more and more people choose this way to express their grief.
Tomb Sweeping Festival is more educational
“Recording the life process, interpreting the meaning of life, advocating the dignity of life, and inheriting the culture of life.” In front of the memorial wall of the ashes at sea burial in the Changqing Life Memorial Garden, people expressed their respect for the deceased at sea burial with a short communal sacrificial ceremony.
The long memorial wall with ashes at sea is engraved with the names of the deceased at sea burials in Beijing from 1994 to 2019. It is a noble choice to leave no ashes and return the soul to the sea. In order to deeply cherish the memory of the deceased at sea burial, the Evergreen Life Memorial Park has set up a monument to sea ashes and held a public sacrifice ceremony during the Qingming Festival to educate and inspire future generations.
In 2022, due to the impact of the epidemic, the ceremonies of ashes and sea sacrifices will be suspended. In order to facilitate the families of the deceased at sea burials to cherish their loved ones, during the key day of the Qingming Festival in 2022, the Evergreen Life Memorial Garden will use a small joint sacrifice ceremony to express their condolences. Under the leadership of the host Song Chaofang, the family members of the deceased stood facing the memorial wall and respectfully placed flowers under the names of their relatives.
What is especially touching is that following the ceremony, many citizens who came to offer sacrifices did not choose to leave directly, but came to the monument to the Unknown Soldier and the Monument to the Body Donor in the park to lay flowers for the Unknown Soldier and “Teacher General”. .
“The Qingming Festival Sweep is not only a sacrifice sweep, but also a process of life education. We serve the families of the deceased, and the family members are also affecting us.” Song Chaofang said. (Wang Qipeng)
