Tomb Sweeping Day
Tim: Why are those people crying?
Maria: They must have just come back from the tomb sweeping .
Tim: Oh,yes,it's Tomb Sweeping Day,a day for remembering family members.
Maria: It's the day of sacrifice .In ancient times,the generations held a memorial ceremony for their forebear .They prepared some hell notes and chrysanthemum .Nowadays,online tomb weeping became more and more popular.Do you know the story about the tomb sweeping?
Tim: Yeah,the story about Jie Zitui.In memory of Jie,every year on that day people mourned for him and ate cold meals the day before.Later the custom of inserting willow branches on gates was also added.
Maria: Yeah,this reminds me of a poem by Du Mu:In the Rainy Season of Spring.
Tim: I know which you are talking about:“It drizzles endlessly during the rainy season in spring;Travelers along the road look gloomy and miserable”.
Maria: Perfect,Tim!You have become Sinologue.Do you understand its meaning?
Tim: It described the scene of the tomb sweeping.
清明節(jié)
提姆: 那些人怎么都哭了?
瑪利亞: 他們準(zhǔn)是剛上完墳回來。
提姆: 哦,對,今天是清明節(jié),懷念親人的日子。
瑪利亞: 是呀,正是祭祀節(jié)日。古時(shí)候,后代都要祭祖的儀式。還要準(zhǔn)備紙錢和菊花?,F(xiàn)在,網(wǎng)上祭掃變得越來越流行了。你知道清明節(jié)的來歷嗎?
提姆: 知道,關(guān)于介子推的故事。之后為了紀(jì)念他,前一天吃冷食。之后就有了門旁插柳的習(xí)俗。
瑪利亞: 這讓我想起了杜牧的那首詩《清明》。
提姆: 我知道你說的是哪首,是“清明時(shí)節(jié)雨紛紛,路上行人欲斷魂”。
瑪利亞: 太棒了!你都成中國通了。你知道意思嗎?
提姆: 是描述掃墓的情景。