The Cold Food Festival is the day before the Tomb-Sweeping Day in China. On this day, the ancients did not make a fire to cook, so it was called cold food. According to legend, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, traveled around the world and experienced hardships. Once, when he was hungry and helpless, Jie Zhitui cut the meat off his thigh for him to eat. Later, Zhong Er became king (Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period) and went with his mother to find Jie Zhitui hiding in the mountains. I couldn't find it anywhere, so I ordered Yamakaji to be released, trying to force Jiexiu out, only to find that Jiexiu and his mother were burned to death. Zhong Er regretted it very much, so he made it a rule not to light a fire and eat all cold food at this time of the year, which was called the Cold Food Festival (the local residents in Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province still remembered it deeply, but it was limited to their thoughts, and there was no activity of eating cold food on the actual festival day). In fact, the real origin of the Cold Food Festival originated from the ancient system of drilling wood for new fire. Because of different seasons, the ancients used different trees to drill fires, which is the custom of making fires in different seasons. And every time you change the fire, you have to change it with a new one. People were forbidden to make a fire before a new fire came, which was a great event at that time. The customs of the Cold Food Festival include going to the grave, outing, cockfighting, swinging, playing with carpets, pulling hooks (tug of war) and so on. The custom of going to the grave is very old.
In the past, the Spring Festival in China was held at the Cold Food Festival, until it was later changed to Tomb-Sweeping Day. However, the Korean side still retains the tradition of holding the Spring Festival at the Cold Food Festival.
The origin of the Cold Food Festival
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 as Jiexiu, changed Mianshan as Jiexiu Mountain, and ordered to ban fire and cold on the day after the ban fire and cold winter solstice, 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 the solution 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 be released, and the fire spread for dozens of miles. After three days, it didn't go out, 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".
Other statements about the origin
Cold Food Festival is an important folk festival in Shanxi in spring.
The specific date of the Cold Food Festival is after the winter solstice 105. At present, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day is the day to celebrate the Cold Food Festival in most parts of Shanxi. Some places, such as Yushe County, celebrated the Cold Food Festival two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day. Yuanqu County also pays attention to Tomb-Sweeping Day's Cold Food Festival the day before, and the light cold food the day before.
The source of the Cold Food Festival should be the fire worship of the ancients. The ancients could not live without fire, but fire often brought great disasters to mankind, so the ancients thought that fire had gods and should be worshipped. The fire offered by each family must be extinguished once a year. Then rekindle a new fire, which is called changing the fire. When changing the fire, a grand ancestor worship activity should be held, and the symbol of millet, the god of cereal, should be burned, which is called human sacrifice. After the custom was passed down, it formed the later No Fire Festival.
After the fire ban, it became a cold food festival to commemorate the famous minister of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. Legend has it that during Jin Wengong's exile, Jiezitui once cut meat to satisfy his hunger. After Jin Wengong returned to China and proclaimed himself emperor, he forgot to push when he was enfeoffed. Jiezitui didn't want to boast about his achievements and compete for favor, so he took his mother to live in seclusion in Mianshan. Later, Jin Wengong personally went to Mianshan to find Jiezitui, who didn't want to be an official and hid in the mountains. Wen Gong's people released Yamakaji. The intention is to force mesons to show their faces. As a result, meson pushed his mother and was burned to death under a big tree. In order to commemorate this loyal minister's righteous act, he didn't make a fire to cook on the day of Jiezitui's death, but wanted to eat cold food. This is the so-called Cold Food Festival.
During the Han Dynasty, Shanxi folks banned fire for one month to commemorate it. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, ordered the cancellation of this custom. There is a saying in Yin Penalty Order, "It is said that in Taiyuan, Shangdang and Yanmen, it is forbidden to eat cold food within 150 days after winter, and the cloud pushes it as a child" and "no one is allowed to eat cold food. Otherwise, the parents will be sentenced to half a year's imprisonment, and the chief officer will be sentenced to 100 days, and he will get a salary in January. " After the Three Kingdoms returned to Jin, because they were homophonic with Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period, they paid special attention to their stories in Jin, and the custom of banning fire and cold food in memory of meson push resumed. But the time was shortened to three days. At the same time, the idea of commemorating mesons at the Cold Food Festival was spread all over the country. The Cold Food Festival has become a national festival, and the prohibition of fire and cold food has also become the same customs and habits as the Han nationality.
Today, the folk custom of banning fire and cold food in Shanxi is mostly one day, and only a few places are used to banning fire for three days. People in southern Shanxi are used to eating bean jelly, cold noodles and cold cakes. In northern Shanxi, people are used to cooking (that is, steamed cake noodles or white noodles are cut into dice-sized squares, then dried and fried with earth) as food for the Cold Food Festival. In some mountainous areas, the whole family eats fried noodles on this day (that is, stir-fry whole grains, mix various dried fruits and grind them into noodles).
The Cold Food Festival is celebrated by steaming cold swallows. Flour is kneaded into swallows, songbirds, animals, melons and fruits, flowers, etc. The steamed swallows are colored, inserted into the needles of jujube trees, decorated indoors and given as gifts.