清明节是中国的四大传统节日之一。它在每年的 公历4月5日前后，是春分节气后第15日。
The Tomb-sweeping Festival (Qing Ming Festival) is one of the four most significant traditional festivals in China. It is around 5th Apr every year, the 15th day after the Spring Equinox.
清明节主要的习俗是扫墓祭祖和踏青郊游。扫墓祭祖是为了慎终追远，踏青郊游是为了享受春天的乐趣。
The most important custom is tomb sweeping and going for an outing in nature. Tomb sweeping is for remembering the ancestors, going for an outing is to enjoy Spring.
在成为一个节日之前，清明仅仅是一个重要的节气，正好是春天回暖的时间，所以踏青来迎接春天也会别有一番情调。
Before becoming a festival, Qing Ming was only one of the 24 solar terms. It indicates that Spring is coming back and the weather is getting warmer, hence going for an outing in nature has a certain tone.
清明节也会有很多风俗食物，其中比较有名的是青团。
There are also many specialty cuisines for this festival, one of the most famous ones is Qing Tuan.
在华人居多的新加坡，清明节不是公共假期，但很多新加坡华人仍旧会保留清明节的习俗，所以有的人在清明节当天，有的在清明前后的周末过节。
In Singapore, the Chinese race is the majority. Although the Tomb-sweeping Day is not a public holiday, many Singaporean Chinese still maintain the customs. Some celebrate on the festival day, some celebrate in the weekend before or after.
在国土面积比较小的新加坡，很多传统坟场已经在建设中消失了，沿袭祭祖、踏青这样的习俗会有些困难。不过，很多华人仍然会去坟场或骨灰庭拜祭亲人的坟墓、修理杂草、摆上祭品鲜花、燃香烧纸钱，等等。大规模的扫墓行为甚至会引发几个小时的堵车。
The size of Singapore is relatively small, so a lot of traditional cemeteries are lost in the process of constructions. It is difficult to have customs like remembering the ancestor and going for an outing. However, many of them still go to cemetery or ashes tower to mourn the dead, sweep and upkeep the tomb, cut off the weeds, offer food and flowers, burn incense and etc. The large scale of tomb-sweep activities will even trigger hours and hours of traffic jam in Singapore.
Keywords:
传统节日（chuántǒng jiérì）n. traditional festival
习俗（xísú）n. custom, tradition
扫墓祭祖（sǎomù jìzǔ）v. to sweep the tomb and to mourn the dead and ancestors
踏青郊游（tàqīng jiāoyóu）v. to go on spring outing. 踏 – step / 青 – green / 郊游 – go on outing
节气（jiéqì）n. the solar terms
迎接春天（yíngjiē chūntiān）v. to welcome the spring
别有一番情调（bié yǒu yīfān qíngdiào）this phrase is used to describe that something or someone has a particularly enjoyable taste or tone,
祭品（jìpǐ）n. the sacrificial offering
堵车（dǔchē）v. traffic jam