What is the meaning of eating eggs during the Qingming Festival? There are two types of eggs during the Qingming Festival.

Every year during the Qingming Festival, the elders in the family will prepare some eggs and then paint them in various colors. So, why do we eat eggs during Qingming Festival? What is the meaning of eating eggs during Qingming Festival?

What is the meaning of eating eggs during Qingming Festival?

1. Every year during the Qingming Festival, the elders in the family prepare some eggs and paint them in various colors. This actually has a meaning. Eating eggs during the Qingming Festival means good luck, good health, and freedom from illness throughout the year.

2. Another saying is that eating eggs on Qingming Festival symbolizes perfection. Eating eggs originated from the ancient Shangsi Festival, when people would eat eggs in order to get pregnant. Duck eggs, bird eggs, etc. are boiled and then painted with bright colors, known as "five-colored eggs". Afterwards, the colorful eggs are thrown into the river and washed away along the current. People waiting downstream will pick them up and eat them. After eating them, it will be easier to get pregnant. Therefore, eggs are a symbol of life, and eating eggs during Qingming Festival is auspicious.

3. On the Qingming Festival, the elders will bring their children and eggs to sweep the tombs of their ancestors. When visiting the graves of deceased elders, people would break boiled eggs on the tombstone and throw the eggshells on the grave, implying that their descendants will be able to excel and have a bright future. Moreover, spring is the season when all things come back to life, and combined with the meaning of eggs as "giving birth to life", these are all reasons for people to eat eggs during the Qingming Festival.

There are two types of Qingming Festival eggs

On the Qingming Festival, people can not only eat eggs, but also play with them. There are roughly two types of eggs: one is "painted eggs" and the other is "carved eggs." The colorfully painted eggs can be eaten, while the "carved eggs" are only for viewing.

The custom of "cracking eggs" during Qingming Festival

There is also a custom of "bumping eggs" during the Qingming Festival, which is something many children like to do. On this day, children hold colorful eggs and bump them against each other for good luck, to see whose egg is the strongest. If a child's egg is not broken, but breaks other children's eggs instead, it means that the child will grow tall and strong in the new year.