Clear & Bright: Honouring our ancestors at Qingming

Guests will learn and help: 齊來參與：
- Sweep and clean the Chinatown Memorial as a site of remembrance 清潔打掃紀念廣場
- Pray and make offerings to the ancestors 拜祭先人, 供奉
- Fold joss paper 疊香紙
- Eat in reunion with the ancestors 圍餐
- Play games in celebration of the Spring

Equal parts family celebration and family obligation, Chingming celebrants give reverence and perform filial piety for one’s ancestors through an elaborate set of rituals. Families visit the burial grounds of those departed to clean (sweep) the gravesites, pray to their ancestors, and make offerings for them to receive in the afterlife. Falling on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, Chingming also celebrates rebirth and the new spring season, with ceremonies often ending with a picnic, flying kites, planting crops, and new courtships.

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CLEAR & BRIGHT: Honouring our ancestors at Qingming
氣清景明：清明節祭祖

Saturday March 30
3月30日(週六)

下午1:30–3:30PM
2PM bilingual ceremony (Canto/Engl) 粵/英雙語儀式

Chinatown Memorial Statue, Keefer & Columbia
華埠紀念廣場, 奇化街夾哥倫比亞街

Rain or shine 不論天氣如何

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Community event by donation
(suggested $5 to help cover cost of supplies) (seniors $2)
社區活動，自願捐助（建議$5圓以幫助補貼活動材料開支）(耆英$2)

BYO ancestral offerings. Chinatown shops selling Chingming supplies:
- Dong Cheng Trading 東成(佛光)商店 (254 E Pender)
- 寶光佛具 (223 Keefer) (advanced shoppers only!)
- Bamboo Village (135 E Pender)
- Any Chinese shop carrying household items

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Presented by Youth Collaborative for Chinatown - 青心在唐人街 and Wongs' Benevolent Association, in partnership with Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia.
More info