又是一年清明时：“清明节”用英语怎么说？

何航

清明节有以下几中译法： Tomb Sweeping Day
Qingming Festival
Pure Bright Festival
Clear Brightness Festival
例句：
The day after tomorrow is the Tomb-sweeping Day.
后天是清明节。
The Qingming Festival in spring is the occasion for visiting ancestral graves.
清明节是扫墓拜祭先人的日子。
The Qingming Festival is a statutory public holiday in mainland China.
清明节在中国大陆地区是法定节假日。
Qing Ming is a time to remember the dead and the dearly departed. More important, it is a period to honour and to pay respect to one's deceased ancestors and family members. Because it reinforces the ethic of filial piety, Qing Ming is a major Chinese festival. Literally meaning "clear" (Qing) and "bright" (Ming), this Chinese festival falls in early spring, on the 106th day after the winter solstice. It is a "spring" festival, and it is an occasion for the whole family to leave the home and to sweep the graves of their forebears. Chinese being practical people this sweeping of the graves is given an extended period, that is, 10 days before and after Qing Ming day. Among some dialect groups a whole month is allocated.
清明节是一个纪念祖先的节日。主要的纪念仪式是扫墓，扫墓是慎终追远、郭亲睦邻及行孝的具体表现；基于上述意义，清明节因此成为华人的重要节日。 清明节是在仲春和暮春之交，也就是冬至后的106天。扫墓活动通常是在清明节的前十天或后十天。有些地域的人士的扫墓活动长达一个月。
清明节有种扫墓的习俗叫“前三后四”，也就是说百姓扫墓应该选择清明节当天的前三天或者后四天去进行扫墓、祭拜逝去的亲人。为了倡导低碳祭拜，近几年，百姓们衍生出了许多低碳环保的祭拜方式，“纸钱”祭拜将逐渐淡去。
说到“纸钱”，英语中是怎么表述的呢？大家可能第一时间想到的就是paper money，不过字面上的确是“纸钱”的意思，实际上paper money的意思是“纸质货币”，与“金属货币”metal money相对应，是“人世”的钱，不是烧给死者的纸钱哦。
例：The Song dynasty was the first government in world history to issue paper money.　
宋朝是世界上第一个发行纸币的政府。
那么，烧给死者的纸钱是什么呢？一起来看看有哪些说法：
By overloading the path with spiritual money, hopefully all troubled souls on the way will be too occupied with the money and leave the traveling-soul alone.
在路上洒满纸钱，亡魂就会忙于捡钱，不会骚扰过路者。
Yan Wang is normally depicted wearing a Chinese judge's cap and sometimes appears onChinese Hell Bank Notes.
阎王通常穿着一身古代官服，纸钱上也会有他的形象。
以上两种说法，spiritual money和hell bank notes都比较形象地说明了“纸钱”的本质，一是象征意义上的钱(spiritual)，二是烧给阴间(hell)的人使用的钞票(bank notes)所以，纸钱我们可以说spiritual money或者 hell bank notes.