Qingming清明
A day for tending family graves. It follows the sun, not the moon.
- When
- A solar term, around 5 April
去冬節一百五日，即有疾風甚雨，謂之寒食，禁火三日。
Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji
What it is
Qingming is a solar term as well as a festival, so its date barely moves.
It sits right after the Cold Food days. An old record puts Cold Food 105 days after the winter solstice, with no fires for three days, and in the Song dynasty the third Cold Food day was Qingming, when new graves were tended.
Coming dates
Worked out from the lunar calendar in China time.
- 2026Sun 5 April
- 2027Mon 5 April
- 2028Tue 4 April
- 2029Wed 4 April
- 2030Fri 5 April
Sources Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji; Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu; Yan Jing Sui Shi Ji.