Wednesday, April 5 is Qingming, the annual ritual for sweeping and sacrificing at the gravesites of relatives. Around that day, people throughout Taiwan will gather together to pay respects to past generations and spirits.
Customary practices include cleaning up tombs, offering flowers, food, and drinks, lighting incense, candles, and firecrackers, saying prayers, and burning paper money. In this way, the festival normally referred to as Tomb Sweeping Day helps to keep alive the memory of the family and community.
Nowadays, as traditional family structures have changed and burial methods have shifted from ground graves to cremation, commemorative ceremonies especially in crowded urban areas may differ from in the past. For example, with the growth of columbaria, more people use cyberspace to memorialize their ancestors.
Such virtual tributes are encouraged not only as eco-friendly, but also to allow descendants outside Taiwan to sustain their roots and connect past generations to present and future ones.