台湾见解 - 清明节“线上祭拜”

在台湾，清明节是一个相当重要的节日。随着近400年来闽南、客家人不断进入台湾，清明节的习俗也随之流传下来。1935年，政府将清明节定为「民族掃墓節」，1972年，「民族掃墓節」被正式定为国定假日。每年清明节台湾人都会祭拜先人，还有大批海外台商返乡祭祖。以往每年清明节，岛内都会出现大规模的人口流动和返乡高潮。

去年清明，政府呼吁民众清明节期间尽量不要出门，鼓励民众采取分流扫墓，或由少数族人代表现场祭祀，并以网络直播方式参与，或者在线上祭拜。除此之外，取消纳骨塔（存放死者骨灰的建筑）法会，鼓励分流，清明节当天禁止入塔。同时政府鼓励在线祭拜。而对于线上祭祀，台湾内政部在网站上发布了卡通式线上祭拜宣传品。台湾内政部表示，为方便民众远距追思，内政部与6个直辖市、嘉义市、苗栗县、彰化县、云林县及金门县等地方政府，都有提供线上追思服务（内政部全国殡葬资讯入口网: https://mort.moi.gov.tw )。

对于计划到富德灵骨楼、阳明山臻爱楼、阳明山灵骨塔等处祭拜先人的民众，可选择进入生命追思纪念网，进入线上祭拜，点选图示要敬拜的地点、中或西式，输入受追思者姓名、追思的话语等即可。

线上直播是否会被大众接受？

线上扫墓在台湾还处于起步阶段，而直播行业与清明的结合看起来更容易被大众接受。郑氏家庙会举行中枢祭典过去会有15国约3千人组团到台湾参加，全台各县市郑氏宗亲也组队到场祭拜，在2020年大部分民众改在当地看直播，当天预计由10人代表主祭，观礼不超过30人。政府也在去年主动推广直播扫墓。在第一、二殡仪馆礼厅，政府设置了免费WiFi网路环境，民众可以向殡管处免费借用脚架进行直播扫墓。

虽然政府呼吁“清明连假宅起来，心意到祖先会知道”， 但是民众对于线上扫墓还是持有较大的意见分歧，不少人认为清明扫墓习俗已经根深蒂固，尤其是对于年龄较大的老人来说，观念的改变还需要时间。

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In Taiwan, Qingming Festival is a very important festival. The custom of Qingming Festival has been passed down for 400 years since Minnan and Hakka people entered Taiwan. In 1935, the government designated Qingming Festival as their national festival. In 1972, it was officially designated as a national holiday. Every year on the Qingming Festival, Taiwanese will worship their ancestors, and a large number of overseas Taiwanese businessmen will return home to worship their ancestors. In the past, every year during the Qingming Festival, there was a large-scale population movement and homecoming due to people returning home for the festival.

Last year, during the Qingming Festival, the government called on the public not to go out as far as possible and encouraged the public to carry out separate tomb sweeping or perform live webcasts or worships online. In addition, the Nagu pagoda (the building where the ashes of the dead are stored) memorial service was cancelled to encourage diversion, and it was forbidden to enter the pagoda on Tomb Sweeping Day. At the same time, the government encouraged online worship. As for online sacrifice, Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior has published cartoon like online sacrifice publicity materials on its website. Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior said that in order to facilitate people's long-distance reminiscence, the Ministry of the Interior and the local governments of six municipalities directly under the central government, Jiayi City, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Jinmen county would all provide online reminiscence services (Refer to Ministry of the Interior National Funeral Information portal: https://mort.moi.gov.tw )

For those who plan to worship their ancestors in Fude Linggu building, Yangming Mountain Zhen’ai building, Yangming Mountain Linggu tower and other places, they can choose to go to the online memorial network, create the online memorial for the people to be remembered, and select the choice of worship.

Will Taiwan public be more accepting towards live-webcast and online tomb-sweeping in 2021?

Online tomb-sweeping may be in its infancy in Taiwan, and the combination of live broadcasting of Qingming is gaining acceptance the public. The Zheng family temple fair held a central ceremony. In the past, about 3000 people from 15 countries would head to Taiwan to participate in the ceremony, and Zheng's clansmen from all countries and cities in Taiwan would attend the ceremony. In 2020, most people watched the live broadcast. It is estimated that 10 people represented the main ceremony on that day, and no more than 30 people attended the ceremony. The government also took the initiative to promote live-telecast of tomb-sweeping last year. In the first and second funeral hall, the government has set up a free-WiFi network environment and people could borrow free tripod from the funeral management office to carry out live telecast of tomb-sweeping.

Although the government’s initiative, the public still have differences in opinion on online tomb-sweeping. The custom of tomb-sweeping is deeply rooted, especially for the elders, it will take time to change their opinion.