Spring Outings
The Qingming Festival is a time when the sun shines brightly, the trees and grass become green and nature is again lively. It is a fine time to go out and to appreciate the beautiful scenes of nature during the festival. Since ancient times, people have followed the custom of spring outings.
Today, many people still practice the spring outings to get close to nature and celebrate the coming of spring, visitors can be seen everywhere during the month of the festival.
Flying Kites
Besides the traditions of honoring the dead, people also often fly kites on Tomb Sweeping Day. Kites can come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors. Designs could include frogs, dragonflies, butterflies, crabs, bats, and storks.
In the past people would cut the string to let it fly free while the kite is in the sky. It is said this brings good luck and that diseases can be eliminated by doing this.
Swinging
Swinging is a sport that the player swings back and forth with a tread plate hung on a frame by long ropes. As a folk activity performed at the Tomb Sweeping Festival, Swinging enjoys a history of several thousand years and still maintains its vitality nowadays.
Planting Trees
The Qingming Festival is also a time to plant trees, for the survival rate of saplings is high and trees grow fast later. Cantonese will plant willow trees on this festival as the willow is believed to have miraculous powers against evil.
