April 4th every year, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. Legend has it that this festival is meson push to commemorate the Spring and Autumn Period.
According to legend, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jin Xiangong's concubine killed the prince in order to let her son inherit the throne, and Shen Sheng was forced to commit suicide. Shen Sheng's younger brother, Zhong Er, went into exile to escape the scourge. During his exile, Zhong Er suffered humiliation. Most of the courtiers who went out with him went out one after another. Only a few loyal people have been following him. One of them is called meson push. On one occasion, Zhong Er fainted from hunger. In order to save Zhong Er, Jiezitui cut a piece of meat from his leg, cooked it with fire and gave it to Zhong Er. Nineteen years later, Zhong Er returned to China and became a monarch, that is, Jin Wengong, one of the famous five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period.
After Jin Wengong came to power, in addition to meson push, he offered many rewards to courtiers who shared his joys and sorrows. Someone defended meson in front of Jin Wengong. Jin Wengong suddenly remembered the past and felt guilty. He immediately sent someone to ask meson to take the imperial court to be rewarded as an official. However, after several trips, the meson could not be pushed. Jin Wengong had to please. However, when Jin Wengong came to the meson pusher's house, he saw that the door was closed. Jiezitui didn't want to see him, and had already been hiding in Mianshan (now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province) behind his mother's back. Jin Wengong asked his body guard to search Mianshan, but he couldn't find it. So, someone had an idea, saying, it is better to let Yamakaji go, set fire on three sides, leave one side, burn it and the meson will come out. Jin Wengong ordered the promotion of Yamakaji. Unexpectedly, the fire burned for three days and nights. After the fire was put out, the meson was not pushed out after all. Looking up the mountain, the mother and son were holding a charred willow tree and were dead. Jin Wengong looked at meson push's body and cried for a while. Then I buried the body and found that the back of meson push was blocked by a willow hole, as if there was something. Take out a look, turned out to be a skirt, with a blood poem:
I hope your master is always clear.
It is better to be a ghost than to accompany you as an exhorter.
If your master has me in his heart, remember that I often reflect.
I have a clear conscience in Jiuquan, diligent and honest.
Jin Wengong hid the bloody book in his sleeve. Then meson tui and his mother were buried under the charred willow tree. To commemorate Jiexiu, Jin Wengong ordered Mianshan to be changed to Jiexiu Mountain, and an ancestral temple was built on the mountain, and the day when Yamakaji was released was designated as the Cold Food Festival, telling the whole country that it is forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers on this day every year and only eat cold food.
When he left, he cut a charred willow and made a pair of clogs in the palace. He looked at it every day and sighed, "What a pity." The "first step" is the name of ancient people's subordinates respecting each other between superiors or peers, which is said to come from it.
The following year, Jin Wengong led his ministers to go hiking in plain clothes to show their respect and condolences. Walking to the grave, I saw the dead old willow tree resurrected, with thousands of green branches dancing in the wind. Jin Wengong looked at the resurrected old willow tree and seemed to see the meson push. He walked up to him respectfully, lovingly squeezed a branch, braided it into a circle and put it on his head. After the sacrifice, Jin Wengong named the revived old willow "Qingming Willow" and named it Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Later, Jin Wengong often took this bloody book as a souvenir, urging him to remain in power. He is diligent and honest, and strives to govern the country well. The people of Jin can live and work in peace and contentment, and they miss the people who have made great achievements but do not seek wealth. On the day of his death, it is forbidden to set off fireworks in memory of him. It is also made of flour and jujube paste into the shape of a swallow, strung with willows and inserted in the door to summon his soul. This thing is called "pushing swallows" (also called intermediary pushing). Since then, cold food and Qingming have become grand festivals for the people of the whole country. Whenever there is cold food, people don't make a fire to cook, but only eat cold food. In the north, people only eat cold food prepared in advance, such as jujube cakes and wheat cakes. In the south, there are mostly green balls and glutinous rice and sugar lotus roots. Every time I go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, people put wicker in a circle and put wicker branches in front of the house to show their memory.
Other sayings of Cold Food Festival
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.
The custom of cold food festival
There are two main characteristics of the Cold Food Festival: first, it is forbidden to eat cold food by fire, and second, it is to commemorate mesons. Gradually, the custom of sweeping graves and entertainment was added to this festival, and gradually evolved into Tomb-Sweeping Day.
◆ Smoking and cold food are prohibited.
The Cold Food Festival was also called "No Smoking Festival" in ancient times. Everyone is forbidden to make a fire and eat cold food. However, due to the persistent pursuit of sages by Chinese people, it was repeatedly banned from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it was not until the Tang Dynasty that it was recognized and participated by the royal family.
◆ ancestor worship
The Cold Food Festival was regarded as a "wild sacrifice" from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was included in Volume 87 of "Opening Ethan", which was worshipped by princes (cold food worship) and became one of the auspicious gifts officially recognized and advocated. Later, it evolved into a royal mausoleum; Official sacrifices to Confucius Temple and sages; People go to sweep graves and so on. At that time, a family or clan went to the ancestral grave to sacrifice, add soil and hang paper money. Then spread swallows and snakes and rabbits on the top of the grave, roll them down, put them on with willow branches or needles, and put them in the high place in the house to show their virtue.
◆ Cold food diet
Cold food includes cold porridge, cold noodles, cold paste, green rice and porridge. Cold food offerings include noodles, snakes and rabbits, jujube cakes, refined rye, immortals, etc. There are dozens of drinks, such as spring wine, fresh tea, clear spring and sweet water. Most of them have profound implications, such as offering sacrifices to snakes and rabbits, which means that "snakes and rabbits will be rich", meaning that people are expected to be rich and the country is strong; Zituiyan, take the word "nian" in Jiexiu dialect, and don't forget to introduce and promote honesty.
◆ Cold food inserted willow
The symbol of the vitamin cold food festival was originally to miss Jie Zhi's pursuit of political clarity. As early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a record in the Chronicle of Jingchu that "every family broke willow during the cold food between Jianghuai and Suzhou", and it is still popular to wear mustard flowers and wheat leaves instead of willow branches in Anhui, Suzhou and other places. According to historical records in various places, there are some sayings, such as "willow branches are inserted into graves", "willow branches are folded into households", "willow branches are inserted into the eaves of sleeping stoves", "wearing a head or a tie", "offering Buddha gods in bottles" and "willow branches are inserted into doors", so there is a saying among the people that "Qingming (cold food) does not wear willow, and the beauty becomes bald".
◆ Cold food outing
Also known as spring outing, Sheng Xing was born in Tang and Song Dynasties. Song Lizhi's words "What I saw in the East Valley" say: "I swept things, and then I went home happily with my brother, wife, relatives and deeds." In the Ming Dynasty, a brief introduction to the scenery of emperors recorded the scene of walking in Beijing: "During the Qingming Festival, people were walking, and there were thousands of tourists, passengers and pedestrians." Can be said to be extremely prosperous.
◆ Cold food swaying
Swing was originally a female amusement in the ancient cold food festival. Wang Renyu's "Kaiyuan Tianbao Legacy" in the Five Dynasties recorded that "the Tianbao Palace Mid-solstice Cold Food Festival actually erected a swing, which made the wives and concubines in the palace laugh and thought it was a feast. The emperor called it a semi-fairy play, so the scholars in the capital called it. " Wen Yanbo, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, wrote the poem "Cold Food Day Crossing the Dragon Gate", which is described as "the willow on the bridge hangs on a line and hangs more colorful ropes."
◆ Cold food promotes autumn.
Popular in the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty's "Literature General Examination" contained: "Cuju, Gai began in the Tang Dynasty. Plant two bamboos, several feet high, and wrap the net on the net to measure the ball for the door. The ball is divided into friends and friends, and the game is divided into corners. " History: Tang Dezong, Xian Zong, Mu Zong and Jing Zong all like to play cuju, and Yuan Gui, the state capital, wrote: "In the twelfth year of Zhenyuan, Tang Dezong, the Cold Food Festival was held in February, and the Imperial Palace East Pavilion was used to watch Wu Dachen and Wu's children, and a banquet was held for the ministers to be slaughtered." In the Song Dynasty, there was "Taizu Cuju Map".
◆ Cold food and poetry
During the Cold Food Festival, literati or homesick relatives, or borrowing scenery, have feelings, feelings, inspirations, poems and chanters. According to the survey, there are more than 300 poems by Xuanzong, Zhang Shuo, Du Fu, Han Yu and Liu Zongyuan in Tang Dynasty, and there are more than 100 poems by Song Jinyuan, which has become a wonderful work in China's poetry art. In addition, there are many activities during the Cold Food Festival, such as banquets, flower viewing, cockfighting, egg carving, tug-of-war, drilling wood for fire, flying kites, shooting herbs, throwing pottery, etc. These activities greatly enriched the social life in ancient China.