The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day
The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. In ancient times, it was not as important as the Cold Food Festival the day before, because the dates of Tomb-Sweeping Day and the Cold Food Festival were close, and the people gradually merged their customs. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties (58 1 to 907), Tomb-Sweeping Day and Cold Food Festival gradually merged into the same festival, which became the day to visit graves and worship ancestors, that is, today's Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Cold food festival-cold food means not getting angry, and you can only eat cold or pre-cooked food. According to legend, this custom originated in the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, someone in the State of Jin wanted to kill his eldest son, Zhong Er, and the loyal minister Jiezhitui (also known as Jiezhitui) escorted Zhong Er to escape. Even when he was hungry and cold, he would cut off his own meat for Zhong Er to eat, hoping that he would return home safely, become a monarch, and be diligent and love the people.
After more than ten years, Zhong Er finally returned to China to become a monarch, that is, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period, rewarded those who helped him during his exile, but forgot to introduce him. After being reminded by others, he quickly sent someone to invite Jiezhi to come and receive the reward. However, Jie Zhitui and his mother went to live in seclusion in the mountains. Jin Wengong and his courtiers found nothing in the mountains. It is suggested that Yamakaji be released. Jie Zhitui is a dutiful son and will definitely save his mother. However, the fire burned for three days and nights, and there was still no referral. After the fire went out, people found Zhizhi carrying his mother's body under a willow tree. Jin Wengong was so sad and regretful that he buried them under the willow tree. Jin Wengong designated the day when Yamakaji was released as the Cold Food Festival, and stipulated that people were forbidden to use fire and eat cold food for one day to commemorate Jie Zhitui's loyalty.
The following year, Jin Wengong and his ministers climbed to the top of the mountain in plain clothes to pay homage to Jiexiu. They found that the old willow tree buried by Jiexiu came back from the dead. Jin Wengong stepped forward and folded the willow branches into a circle, put them on his head and hung them outside the door as a souvenir, which gradually evolved into today's Tomb-Sweeping Day custom.
In March and April, when spring is bright, pink and green, one of the most important festivals in China's traditional customs is Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day is now a national grave-sweeping festival. According to Sunday, it is around April 5, and according to the lunar calendar, it is the first half of March. The ancients divided a year into 24 solar terms and used this calendar to sow and harvest. Qingming is one of the twenty-four solar terms, fifteen days after the vernal equinox. According to the saying of "always asking questions": "Everything is long, clean and bright at this time. So it is called Qingming. " Therefore, "Tomb-Sweeping Day" was originally a solar term. Later, the custom of forbidding cold food and fire and beating graves was added, and Tomb-Sweeping Day was formed.
Originally, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of sweeping graves was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The correct date of the Cold Food Festival is from winter to the future 105, around Qingming, so Qingming and cold food are combined into one!
The custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors and sweeping graves in front of graves originated very early in China. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people attached great importance to tombs. Mencius and Qi People in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period also mentioned a person who was laughed at by Qi people. He often went to the tomb of Dongguo to beg for offerings from the tomb, which showed that sweeping graves was very popular during the Warring States period. When I arrived in Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, I designated cold food sweeping the grave as one of the "five rituals". Therefore, whenever Tomb-Sweeping Day comes, "the fields and roads are crowded with scholars and women, and the servants and beggars of soap merchants get their parents' graves." (Liu Zongyuan's Book with Xu Jingzhao) Grave sweeping has become an important social custom.
In spring, when it is still cold, it is forbidden to make a fire to eat cold food, for fear that some old, weak women and children can't stand the cold. In order to prevent cold food from harming their health, outdoor activities such as hiking, outing, swinging, playing football, playing polo, inserting willows, tug of war, fighting cocks, etc. It has been decided that everyone should come out to bask in the sun, exercise their bones and muscles and increase their resistance. Therefore, in addition to ancestor worship and grave-sweeping, there are various outdoor fitness activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which make this festival not only have emotional appeal, but also have a joyful atmosphere of spring outing. There are both sad and sour tears in Where Are You Going, and vivid and bright scenes everywhere. This is really a very special festival.
Grave-sweeping in Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival custom related to funeral customs. According to records, in ancient times, "tombs were not graves", that is to say, only graves were dug and graves were not built, so sacrifices were not recorded. Later, graves and graves, the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves, were supported. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, tomb sacrifice has become an indispensable ritual activity.
According to the biography of Yan Yannian in the Han Dynasty, although Yan is thousands of miles away from Beijing, her family will still return to the East China Sea Tomb in Qingming. Yan Yannian's behavior is reasonable in terms of the development and strengthening of ancestor worship and consanguinity consciousness of China people. Therefore, the tomb sacrifices that were not included in the norms in ancient times were also included in the Five Rites: "It is appropriate for a scholar to go to the grave and be included in the Five Rites, and it will always be a routine." With the official affirmation, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to prevail. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival in memory of ancestors. The main memorial ceremony is to sweep the grave, which is a concrete embodiment of being cautious in pursuing the future and caring for the family. Based on the above significance, Tomb-Sweeping Day has become an important festival for China people.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, after the winter solstice 106 days. Grave-sweeping activities are usually held 10 days before or 10 days after Tomb-Sweeping Day. Some people in their hometown have been sweeping graves for a month.
The Cold Food Festival is the day before the Tomb-Sweeping Day in China.
The origin of the Cold Food Festival is Mianshan, Jiexiu, Shanxi, with a history of 2640 years (358 years earlier than the Dragon Boat Festival). According to the definition of "Cold Food Festival" in Ci Yuan and Ci Hai, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Jie Zhitui went through hardships, assisted Zhong Er, the son of Jin Dynasty, to restore the country and lived in seclusion in Mianshan, Jiexiu. Burning the mountain forced him out, but Zitui and his mother disappeared and burned us. In order to mourn him, Jin Wengong named Jiexiu after Jiexiu, changed Mianshan to Jiexiu Mountain, and ordered to ban fire and cold food on the day after the winter solstice (KLOC-0/50), forming a cold food festival. The Cold Food Festival originated from the record of the burning agent in Mianshan, Jiexiu. It was first seen in Huan Tan's new volume XI Li Xi Shi, and then in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the Biography of Zhou Ju, the Criminal Order of Cao Caoming, the Book of Jin, the Biography of Xerox and the Notes of Li Daoyuan's Water Mirror Fen. In history, the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival are similar, and over time, they merged into one festival. "Tang Yao Hui Volume 82 Vacation" clearly records: "(Kaiyuan) February 11: Cold food is bright, and the fourth day is a holiday. February 15th, 13th year of Dali: From now on, the cold food will be clear and there will be a five-day holiday. To March 9, the sixth year of Zhenyuan: the cold food is clear, and it is appropriate to celebrate the Yuan Day, and it will be given for three days before and after. " Therefore, "The Grand View of China Traditional Culture" contains: "Roughly in the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day became one."
April 4th every year, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. Legend has it that this festival is to commemorate the Spring and Autumn Period.
Jie Zhitui was a virtuous minister of the State of Jin, who worked for Zhong Er (later Jin Wengong). There was civil strife in Jin, and his son Zhong Er was forced to flee abroad. Jie Zhitui went into exile with Zhong Er regardless of difficulties and hardships. Once I cut a leg to make soup and gave it to Zhong Er. After Zhong Er became a monarch, he remembered Jiezhitui at first, but after a long time, he was forgotten. Jie Zhitui felt very uncomfortable, so he returned to his hometown with his elderly mother and lived in seclusion in the mountains.
One day, Jin Wengong found that he was short of intermediaries, and he remembered that he had forgotten to reward the sage who "cut shares and serve the king". He felt very guilty and went to his secluded mountain to look for it himself. But I saw the overlapping mountains and trees, but I didn't see the shadow of the intermediary. Jie Zhitui is a dutiful son, he thought. If Yamakaji is released, he will definitely come out behind his mother's back. So, Yamakaji was ordered to release, and the fire spread for dozens of miles, and it didn't go out for three days, but it didn't come out. After the fire went out, everyone went into the mountain to see, only to find that Jie Zhitui and his old mother were burned to death in the mountain.
As soon as it came out, everyone respected and missed Jie tui. I will remember him on the day he was burned to death, that is, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day in April every year. 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".