Chinese Qingming ("ching ming") Festival at Wind Chimes

Qingming (“ching ming”) Festival,
Formerly called Hanshi Festival

The Qingming Festival, which celebrates the start of Spring by honoring ancestors, is on April 4 in 2025. This Chinese Memorial Day is observed by ethnic Chinese people in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. It became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008.

This is an exciting holiday which I have only discovered when researching events for this club.

The International Diners Club will celebrate Qing Ming at Wind Chimes Restaurant:
5742 Frantz Rd
Dublin, OH 43016-4138
April 6, 2025, Sunday, 1 PM

RESEARCH ON THE QINGMING FESTIVAL

The origins of the Qingming Festival evolved from the Cold Food or Hanshi Festival, during which the Chinese avoided lighting any fire, even for cooking. Thus, all food was eaten cold. Hanshi, which translates as “cold food”, began in the 7th century B.C to commemorate the life of one particular nobleman (Jie Zitui), and they sacrificed the use of fire to honor him. It grew across East Asia into a festival for the commemoration and veneration of all ancestors.

Hanshi merged with the Qingming period of the zodiac calendar in the 3rd century A.D.

The Qingming Festival is also known as:

• Chinese Memorial Day (People honor their ancestors.)
• Ancestors' Day
• Pure Brightness Festival (“qing” means “pure essence”, and “ming” translates to “brightness".)

Activities for Qing Ming include:

• Clean and sweep ancestors' tombs.
• Often picnic at the gravesite.
• Wear willow branches in the hair.
• Make a sweet treat called Qingtung (which I hope to have for us to try after lunch).
• Burn incense sticks for ancestors in the afterlife.
• Burn images of money and “joss paper” to fund those in the afterlife. (I ordered a little bit of “joss paper” from China so we can see what it is.)
• Qing Ming is also a celebration of Spring, and an important way to celebrate spring is by flying beautiful kites.

At the lunch, I will have a more detailed brochure about Quing Ming activities, examples of Chinese Joss paper, and (hopefully) a traditional Qingming sweet (Qingtwan).

BRING $2 TO PAY MEETUP. We need to collect $200 by September to continue this Meetup Club. Everyone who comes to lunch should bring $2 cash to pay toward next year’s Meetup Dues. If you don’t want to carry cash, you can Venmo $5 instead. (Venmo is more work to handle than cash, so you contribute more.)

OPTIONAL CRAFT EARRINGS. Before and after lunch, all members of International Diners will have an opportunity to make a pair of mother of pearl earrings using a dye-transfer image of a Qingming butterfly kite. From now on, at each lunch, we will have a chance to use this dye-transfer to make a pair of earrings that represent the international holiday.

April - Chinese Qingming holiday
(pronounced “ching-ming”)
Butterfly kite earrings

May - Japanese Golden Week
Cherry blossom earrings

June - Hawaiian King Kamehameha Day
Hibiscus flower earrings

To start the earring, you must come to lunch 15 minutes early. Come at 12:45 if you want to make earrings. There is no charge for the earrings because I have the materials left over from when I used to sell jewelry at the State Fair.