Ching Ming Festival 清明節的翻譯
「清明」依音譯為「Ching Ming, 但「節」則依意譯為festival，合起來便是Ching Ming Festival, 是音譯和意譯的混合物。
此外，我們再學習幾個中國傳統節日的英譯：
「春節」在英文上叫做Chinese New Year's Day, 是意譯，字面的意思就是「中國人的新年」;或Spring Festival，即「春天的節日」;或Chinese Rural New Year，即「中國農曆新年」
「端午節」的譯法和「清明節」一樣，「端午」譯為Duan Wu, 節是Festival。不過，許多人也喜歡稱之為Duan Wu, 節是Festival。另外，許多人也喜歡稱之為Dragon Boat Festival，意為「龍舟節」。
「中秋節」逐字意譯為Mid-Autumn Festival,有時則在前邊加上Chinese。亦有人稱之為Moon Festival的。
「重陽節」也和「清明節」、「端午節」一般譯法，稱為Chung Yeung Festival。由於我們有時也把「重陽」稱為「重九」，所以有些英國人也把我們的這一個節日叫做「Double-ninth Day,」不過還是以前者較多用。
Chinese Ching Ming Festival
A Chinese holiday, celbrated on April 5th, is the Ching Ming Festival (aka Qingming Festival.) Ching, in Chinese, means pure or clean and Ming means brightness. Most people call this holiday grave-sweeping day because people head to the cemetery to clean graves.
There are many Ching Ming rituals[儀式] which include pulling out weeds around the headstone, cleaning the stone and replacing wilted or dead flowers with fresh ones. People also burn incense[薰香] and paper money. The paper money is for the deceased to use in the afterlife. You'll even see food arranged on headstones but it's not a picnic. The food is an offering to the spirits. Three sets of chopsticks[筷子] and three Chinese wine cups are also placed above the food, close to the headstone.
Other rituals include family members pouring wine on the grave or setting off firecrackers[鞭炮] to scare away evil spirits. The firecrackers also let deceased loved ones know they're there to pay their respects. Legend has it that unhappy spirits wander the earth on Ching Ming day. It's considered bad luck to do important business or have an operation on April 5th. Stick to hanging out in the cemetery and offering your ancestors food and fake money.
The practice of ancestor worship is based on three beliefs:
1) that a person's good or bad fortune is influenced by the souls of his or her ancestors;
2) that all departed[死去的] ancestors have the same material needs they had when alive; and
3) that the departed can assist their living relatives.