1. Who is the Cold Food Festival to commemorate?
The Cold Food Festival commemorates the introduction of the Spring and Autumn Period.
The origin of the Cold Food Festival, according to historical records: During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled to other countries and lived in exile for 19 years. Minister Jiezitui always followed around and never gave up; Even "stock trading." Zhong Er tried to become a famous gentleman "Jin Wengong".
But meson tui didn't want to make a fortune, so he lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan. Jin Wengong ordered the release of Yamakaji to force him out of the mountain, but meson was determined not to go out of the mountain and eventually died in a fire. Jin Wengong remembered his loyalty, buried him in Mianshan, built a shrine and a temple, and ordered the prohibition of cold food on the day of Jiexiu to express his grief. This is the origin of the "Cold Food Festival".
Because Jie Zhitui was killed by fire, everyone couldn't bear to light a fire on this day, preferring to eat cold food, so this day was called "Cold Food Festival".
Before the calendar reform in Tang Ruowang in the early Qing Dynasty, Tomb-Sweeping Day was scheduled for two days after the Cold Food Festival. After the reform of the Tang family, the Cold Food Festival was held the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. The definition of the modern twenty-four solar terms follows that of the Tang Dynasty, so the Cold Food Festival is the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day.
2. What are the origins and customs of the Cold Food Festival?
1. The origin of the Cold Food Festival:
Cold Food Festival, also known as "No Smoking Festival", "Cold Food Festival" and "Hundred Five Days Festival", follows the ancient habit of changing fire. In early spring every year, the climate is dry, not only the kindling preserved by people is easy to cause fire, but also the occurrence of spring thunder is easy to cause mountain fires.
In this season, the ancients held a grand sacrificial ceremony to put out all the kindling handed down from the previous year, that is, "forbidding fire", and then drilled a new fire as the starting point of production and life in the new year, which was called "changing fire" or "inviting new fire".
When the fire is changed, a grand ritual activity is held to burn the symbol of millet, the god of cereal, which is called human sacrifice. After the custom was passed down, it formed the later No Fire Festival. There is an interval between banning fire and changing fire. Historical materials have different opinions such as three days, five days and seven days.
In this period when there is no fire, people must prepare enough cooked food and live on cold food. This is the so-called "cold food", hence the name "Cold Food Festival". The Cold Food Festival has lasted for more than 2,000 years and is called the largest folk festival.
2. Cold Food Festival custom:
Customs 1. Worship the grave
The Cold Food Festival was regarded as a "wild sacrifice" from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty. Families go to ancestral graves, offer sacrifices, add soil and hang paper money. Then they scattered swallows and snakes and rabbits on the top of the grave, rolled them down, put them on with willow branches or zits, and put them high in the house, which means they are stained with the virtue of their ancestors.
Custom two, inserting willows
The symbolic thing of vitamin cold food festival is to miss the political clarity pursued by meson tui. There is also a folk saying that "a beautiful woman becomes a bald head without wearing a willow at Qingming Festival". It is a custom to insert willows in memory of Shennong, the founder of agriculture, who taught people to grow crops.
Custom 3, outing
Cold food festival, also called spring outing, began in Tang and Song Dynasties. "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" recorded the scene of hiking: during the Qingming Festival, people went hiking, and there were tens of thousands of tourists, riders, pedestrians and tourists. Go for an outing, also known as spring outing, exploring spring and seeking spring. In the spring when flowers turn green, people go hiking in the suburbs together.
Custom 4. sway
Swing was originally a game for court women in the ancient Cold Food Festival. According to historical records, the Tianbao Palace Mid-solstice Cold Food Festival actually set up a swing, which made the ladies-in-waiting laugh and thought it was a feast. The emperor called it Banxian Opera, and the people in Beijing called it Banxian Opera. The origin of swing can be traced back to ancient times. At that time, in order to make a living, ancestors needed to go up trees to pick fruits. In climbing and running, they grab vines and swing back and forth, climb trees or cross ravines. This is the prototype of the swing.
Custom five, poetry
During the Cold Food Festival, literati either miss their loved ones, or borrow scenery to express their feelings, or are full of fun and poetry. Judging from the whole Tang poetry, Tang Xuanzong, Du Fu, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and other celebrities all wrote poems about the Cold Food Festival, which enriched the life and entertainment of literati.
In short, the Cold Food Festival is to commemorate the introduction of Jie in the Spring and Autumn Period, and there are customs such as swinging, reciting poems, going to the grave, inserting willows, and going for an outing in the suburbs.