Things to note when visiting graves during menstruation

Visiting tombs on Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese custom to commemorate deceased ancestors. There are many taboos when visiting tombs in daily life. The custom varies from place to place. In some places, women are not allowed to visit tombs during their menstrual period. This is a local custom and generally speaking, it is better to respect it. Let’s take a look at this aspect below.

Can I visit the graves during menstruation?

Related to local customs. This is related to local customs. In many places there are some taboos about women visiting graves. If you have such beliefs, you might as well abide by them.

For example: women who are weak or sick cannot visit the graves. If they must go, they must wear amulets such as jade or jade Buddha.

In addition, pregnant women and women who are menstruating are not allowed to visit the graves; women who are not officially married and are just girlfriends cannot accompany their boyfriends to visit the graves; some places also stipulate that women whose husbands have been dead for less than three years are not allowed to visit the graves.

Things to note when visiting graves during menstruation

Generally speaking, pregnant women should avoid Qingming festival mountain-visiting activities, and that’s not all. Strictly speaking, women who are menstruating should not participate in such activities, especially the Qingming Festival grave-worshipping activities after 3 pm. A reminder to friends: Our country is vast, and the customs of tomb sweeping in the north and south are slightly different. For example, in the south, both sons and daughters usually go to sweep the tombs, while in some places in the north, daughters usually do not go to sweep the tombs. If the daughter is married, she will go to sweep the tombs with her husband.

People who are not suitable to visit the cemetery to pay respect to their ancestors

1. People with weak constitution;

2. Pregnant women and young children;

3. People who are sick;

If these three types of people go to the cemetery to worship their ancestors in person, they are more likely to be harmed by bad aura and suffer diseases and disasters. It is better to worship from a distance if possible.

4. People with weak body and heavy official and killing;

5. People with weak will and sensitive nerves;

6. People with bad luck such as those who have lost love, lost their jobs, failed in business, are drunk, lack of sleep, etc.

If these three types of people go to worship their ancestors during the Qingming Festival, they are likely to be disturbed by evil spirits, so it is not advisable for them to go there in person to worship their ancestors.

Taboos for women to worship their ancestors

There is a saying among the people that black dog blood and women's menstrual blood are both things that can ward off evil spirits, and the souls in the underworld are naturally afraid of them! Another saying is: when a woman is menstruating, her body and light are relatively weak, and she is most likely to be invaded by unclean things.

Due to the prejudice against women in the patriarchal society for thousands of years, many taboos have been formed for women in the custom of visiting graves during the Qingming Festival. In some areas and places, although the folk tradition of visiting graves and worshiping ancestors is very important and every household visits graves and worships ancestors very frequently, there are special requirements for women when visiting graves and worshiping ancestors on Qingming Festival.

For example, women who are weak or sick cannot visit graves. If they must go, they must wear amulets such as jade or jade Buddha. In addition, pregnant women and women who are menstruating are not allowed to visit the graves; women who are not officially married and are just girlfriends cannot accompany their boyfriends to visit the graves; some places also stipulate that women whose husbands have been dead for less than three years are not allowed to visit the graves.

Of course, there are some special customs for visiting graves during the Qingming Festival. Families with a new daughter-in-law or a newborn baby must bring their new daughter-in-law and mothers who have just given birth and their children to visit the graves during the Qingming Festival of that year. First of all, it means acknowledging one's ancestry, and secondly, it is also to comfort the ancestors: the family has grown and there are new members! If such a family goes to the grave to sweep the tomb, they should set off firecrackers, and in the curling smoke of the firecrackers, the newlyweds should kowtow and pay their respects in front of the grave, and the children should be held by the adults while paying their respects, saying "Dad (Mom), your daughter-in-law (granddaughter-in-law) pays her respects to you!" Of course, how to address them will vary according to the identity and seniority of the ancestors.