Qingtuan [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

As a solar term, the Qingming Festival only lasts one day; while the Cold Food Festival generally lasts three days. Folk activities for the Qingming Festival may be extended to the Duanwu Festival or Spring Flower Harvest Festival; as a saying goes, "The Qingming Festival lasts till the Duanwu Festival", or "The Qingming Festival lasts till the wheat harvest". There are two explanations for this. The first is that in the past, if the Qingming Festival was in a time of lean harvest, the people were too poor to offer sacrifice until the spring wheat harvest. The second one is related to Qi Jiguang's defense against Japanese invasion. It is said that men in some village at that time followed Qi's troop and some of them asked to return home at the Qingming Festival. Leaders of the troop, however, in order not to relax the defenses at the festival, allowed them to go home in turns to sweep their ancestors' graves with their family after the festival. Thus, the village did not finish the activities for the Qingming Festival until the Duanwu Festival. As the defense against the Japanese ended with a significant victory, this custom was passed on.

At the Qingming Festival, people in all counties of the city wear willow twigs as hairpins perhaps as "exorcism and spring outing". It is believed to be good for the family's health and longevity. A ballad goes like this: "Wear no willow twigs or flowers at the Qingming Festival, bear no uncles or aunts in the afterlife". Another says "Wear wheat, live up to the age of 100; wear flowers, live to 108; wear flowers and willow twigs, live to 800".

In Tiantai County and Linhai, people in every household eat sea margarya on that day. It is said that it helps clear the eyes, and so is called "eye-clearing margarya". Therefore, dealers in Sanmen, Ninghai and other neighboring counties often trade sea margarya a long way into Tiantai County and Linhai.