QINGMING FESTIVAL notes

<---======##=========[ Event 1180 - Qingming Festival! ]==========##======--->
THE QINGMING FESTIVAL!

The Qingming or Ching Ming festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival, observed by the Chinese for over 2500 years. El Templo de Las Nubes Oscuras, Baja California's largest Taoist temple, is hosting the festival in Tijuana this year!

During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors, and make ritual offerings. Offerings typically include traditional food dishes, and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture. The holiday is associated with the consumption of qingtuan, green dumplings made of glutinous rice and Chinese mugwort or barley grass.

Come and celebrate at the mountainside temple!

OOC: Social scene open to all, but Shen in particular, with PRP seeds for future chapters of the current Qi Lung Chronicle. COME CELEBRATE THE DEAD AND MAKE MERRY!

* Event date may slide by a day depending on critical mass availability *

Date: Tue Mar 31 17:00:00 2020 PST
Storyteller: Danny
Genre: All, Shen
Signups: Danny, Ying Yue, and Joel
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FESTIVAL-DESC(#19462)
THE QINGMING FESTIVAL!

The Qingming or Ching Ming festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival, observed by the Chinese for over 2500 years. El Templo de Las Nubes Oscuras, Baja California's largest Taoist temple, is hosting the festival in Tijuana this year!

During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites, pray to their ancestors, and make ritual offerings. Offerings typically include traditional food dishes, and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one's ancestors in Chinese culture. The holiday is associated with the consumption of qingtuan, green dumplings made of glutinous rice and Chinese mugwort or barley grass.

Various stations have been set throughout the space with trays of qingtuan and beverages, wine and non-alcoholic libations, for guests to enjoy. At the entrances to each bay and tower, stations with joss sticks and joss paper have been carefully arrayed, along with candles and matches for guests to burn in offering to their departed loved ones. Other symbols of ritual purity, such as pomegranate and willow branches, decorate the space. Makeshift altars have been set up for guests to place mementos of the departed, and receive the sacrifices.

The Taoist monks that call this temple home, known as the Longmen, mingle with the crowd of guests to offer greetings and guidance, and ensure a harmonious event. For the children in attendance, the monks will give away kites in the shapes of animals or characters from Chinese opera for them to fly. For the adults, the monks will coordinate large-scale tug of war games as part of the festivities, using ropes of up to 167 metres (548 ft) with shorter ropes attached, and more than 500 people on each end of the rope to symbolize the tug-of-war between life and death, yang and yin. Each side will have its own team of drummers to encourage the participants.

(OOC: Approx 250 monks call this place home - 25 at a time will mingle with the crowd in any given of the gridrooms)