When is Tomb-Sweeping Day in Tomb-Sweeping Day? This is the fifth solar term in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, marking the official start of the Ji Chun season. When the sun reaches longitude 15 degrees, it will be Tomb-Sweeping Day gas.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is an important traditional festival in China and one of the eight major festivals (Lunar New Year, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve), which usually falls on April 5 of the Gregorian calendar.
Tomb-Sweeping Day's historical story is that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, was exiled to escape persecution. On the way to exile, he was tired and hungry in a deserted place and couldn't stand up anymore. I searched for it for a long time, but I couldn't find anything to eat. When everyone was in a hurry, I pushed the minister to a quiet place, cut a piece of meat from his thigh and cooked a bowl of broth for the son to drink. Zhong Er gradually recovered his spirit. Zhong Er shed tears when he found that the meat was cut off by mesons pushing his legs. Nineteen years later, Zhong Er became the monarch, that is, the historical Jin Wengong. After he ascended the throne, Wen Gong rewarded the heroes who accompanied him in exile at first, but forgot to push the meson.
Many people complained about meson push and advised him to admire it. However, mesons despise those who strive for merit the most. He packed his bags and quietly went to Mianshan with his mother. Hearing this, Jin Wengong was ashamed and personally took someone to ask Jiexiu, but Jiexiu had left home for Mianshan. Mianshan Mountain is high and dangerous, with dense trees. It's hard to find two people. Someone offered a plan to burn Mianshan from three sides and force a meson to push out. The fire burned all over Mianshan, but there was no trace of meson push. After the fire was put out, it was found that Jiezitui had sat under an old willow tree with his old mother on his back and died. Jin Wengong cried. When I was buried, I found a bloody book in a tree hole, which said, "May my master be clear forever." In order to commemorate meson push, Jin Wengong ordered that this day be designated as "Cold Food Festival".
The following year, Jin Wengong led ministers to climb mountains to pay homage. He found that the old willow was dead and resurrected, so he gave it the title of "Qingming Willow" and told the world, so he named the day after the Cold Food Festival "Tomb-Sweeping Day".
Tomb-Sweeping Day custom outing
The Chinese nation has had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming since ancient times. In ancient times, it was called spring outing, spring seeking and so on. Spring outing, also known as spring outing, refers to going for a walk in the suburbs in early spring. Outing, a seasonal folk activity, has a long history in China, and its source is the ancient Spring Festival custom of farming sacrifice, which has a far-reaching influence on later generations. There are both solar terms and festivals in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day provides important conditions for the formation of the Qingming outing custom in terms of time and meteorological phenology. During the Qingming Festival, spring returns to the earth, and nature is full of vitality everywhere, which is a good time to go for an outing. People use the opportunity of sweeping graves to have fun with their families in mountainous areas and rural areas.
China folks have long maintained the custom of Tomb-Sweeping Day's outing with a long history. The Qingming Festival is a season when the spring breeze is proud and full of spring. When everything is in bud, it has long been a custom to go for an outing in the wild. According to the Book of Jin, every spring, people go to the suburbs to enjoy the scenery together. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the custom of hiking was particularly popular. According to "Old Tang Book", "In February of the second year of Dali, at noon, it was fortunate that Kunming was green." It can be seen that the custom of spring outing has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.
plant trees
Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring was bright and the spring rain was falling, and the survival rate of planted seedlings was high and the growth was fast. So there is a habit of planting trees in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and some people call Tomb-Sweeping Day Arbor Day. The custom of planting trees has been passed down to this day. The custom of planting trees in Tomb-Sweeping Day is said to have originated from the custom of crossing willows and inserting willows in Qingming Festival. There are three legends about Tomb-Sweeping Day. The first legend is said to commemorate Shennong, the founder of agriculture, and later developed into the meaning of praying for longevity. The second legend is related to meson push. It is said that when Jin Wengong led the minister to climb a mountain to pay homage to Jietui, he found that the old willow tree on which Jietui once lived came back from the dead, so he was given the title of "Qingming Willow". The third legend is that Emperor Taizong gave the minister a willow circle as a blessing to drive away the epidemic.
Worship of tomb ancestors
Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping, which means "grave-sweeping sacrifice", is a "respect for time and thought" for ancestors. Sacrificing ancestors is a way of remembering ancestors, and its custom has a long history. According to archaeological excavations, an ancient tomb of 10,000 years ago was found in Qingtang Site, Yingde, Guangdong. According to AMS, it was the earliest burial tomb in China about 13500 years ago, indicating that Lingnan ancestors had a clear sense of burial behavior and customs more than 10000 years ago.
Grave-sweeping is the center of Tomb-Sweeping Day custom. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a cultural tradition of paying homage to his ancestors and pursuing the future with caution, mainly offering sacrifices to his ancestors and expressing his filial piety and yearning for them. According to the different places of sacrifice, Tomb-Sweeping Day can be divided into tomb sacrifice and ancestral temple sacrifice. Tomb sacrifice is the most common, and the Qingming sacrifice is characterized by tomb sacrifice. The reason why Qingming Festival is called sweeping graves is mainly because of the way of sweeping graves. Another form is ancestral temple sacrifice, also called temple fair sacrifice, which means that people of a clan gather in the ancestral temple to worship their ancestors first, and then have a meeting and dinner after the sacrifice. This kind of sacrifice is a way of ethnic reunion.
There are differences around Tomb-Sweeping Day. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, according to the custom, we usually set out to visit the grave in the morning in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The ways or projects of offering sacrifices to green vary from place to place. The common practice includes two parts: one is to renovate the tomb, and the other is to hang paper money to offer sacrifices. When you sweep the grave, you should repair it first. The main method is to remove weeds, cultivate new soil, and then kowtow. On the one hand, this kind of behavior can express the filial piety and care for the ancestors. On the other hand, in the belief of the ancients, the graves of ancestors have a great relationship with the rise and fall of future generations, so tomb repair is a commemorative content that cannot be ignored. The sacrifices are mainly food, and the varieties vary from place to place. They are all foods that locals think can be taken out according to the economic ability of sacrifice, or they are seasonal specialties.