According to Tomb-Sweeping Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the twenty-four solar terms in the China lunar calendar, and it is also the most important sacrificial festival. Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, everyone is ready to go home to worship their ancestors. Tomb-Sweeping Day expressed people's moral feelings of respecting their ancestors. Let's take a look at the profile of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Introduction to Tomb-Sweeping Day 1 Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in China. Because the 24 solar terms objectively reflect the changes of temperature, rainfall and phenology throughout the year, ancient working people used them to arrange agricultural activities. Huai Nan Zi. "Astronomical Training" said: "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to B, and the Qingming wind comes."
According to the centenarian question, "everything grows clean and bright at this time." So it is called Qingming. " As soon as Qingming arrives, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good time for spring ploughing and planting. Therefore, there is an agricultural proverb that "before and after Qingming, point melons and plant beans" and "planting trees is not as good as Qingming". It can be seen that this solar term is closely related to agricultural production.
However, Qingming, as a festival, is different from pure solar terms. Solar terms are symbols of phenological changes and seasonal order in China, while festivals contain certain customs and activities, which have certain commemorative significance.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Grave-sweeping is commonly known as going to the grave and offering sacrifices to the dead. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
According to the old custom, when sweeping graves, people should bring food, wine, fruit, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer food to the graves of their loved ones, then burn the paper money, cultivate the soil for the graves, fold some green branches and insert them on the graves, and then kowtow to worship.
Finally, eat wine and go home. The poem Qingming written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said: "There are many rains during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " Write about the special atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, according to the solar calendar, between April 4th and 6th every year, it is the season of beautiful spring and lush vegetation, and it is also a good time for people to have a spring outing (called outing in ancient times), so the ancients had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming and carrying out a series of sports activities.
To this day, the custom of worshipping ancestors and mourning the dead relatives in Tomb-Sweeping Day is still very popular.
The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day
Tomb-Sweeping Day is the most solemn ancestor worship festival of the Chinese nation, and it belongs to a traditional cultural festival of remembering ancestors, pursuing the future cautiously and promoting filial piety. Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, which originated from the Spring Festival and the Spring Festival in ancient times. Ancestor belief and sacrificial culture are important factors in the formation of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Qingming has two connotations: solar terms and festivals. Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi provided important conditions for the formation of Tomb-Sweeping Day customs in terms of time and meteorological phenology.
In Tomb-Sweeping Day, on the 4th to 6th of the Gregorian calendar, grave-sweeping activities are generally carried out from the first 10 day to the last 10 day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and in some places, grave-sweeping activities last for one month. Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China.
As a festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day is different from pure solar terms. Solar terms are signs of phenological changes and seasonal order, while festivals contain spiritual beliefs and customs. According to the research results of modern anthropology and archaeology
The two most primitive beliefs of human beings are the belief in heaven and earth and the belief in ancestors. The traditional cultural custom of worshipping the heavens and ancestors has been handed down from generation to generation since ancient times, and the inheritance of the custom of sweeping graves and worshipping ancestors in Qingming has become a fixed theme of etiquette customs.
Introduction to Tomb-Sweeping Day 2 Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, the first 108 day after the winter solstice. It is a traditional festival in China, and it is also one of the most important sacrificial festivals. It's the day to worship ancestors and sweep graves [1]. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, which started in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years.
Qingming was just the name of a solar term at first, and later became a festival to commemorate ancestors, which was related to the Cold Food Festival. Jin Wengong designated the second day of the Cold Food Festival as Tomb-Sweeping Day. In most parts of Shanxi, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day was the Cold Food Festival. Tomb-Sweeping Day in Yushe County and other places celebrated the Cold Food Festival two days ago; Yuanqu County also pays attention to Tomb-Sweeping Day's Cold Food Festival the day before, and the light cold food the day before.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China. Generally, it is around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar, and the festival is very long. There are two sayings: 8 days before 10 and 10 days before 10, and these 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day originally meant grave-sweeping day, and the government of the Republic of China designated 15 days after the vernal equinox in 935 as a national holiday, also known as the national grave-sweeping day.
"Almanac": "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to Ding, which is used for Qingming, when everything is clean and bright, and when it is covered, everything is clean and bright, hence the name." As soon as Qingming arrives, the temperature rises, which is a good time for spring ploughing. Therefore, there is a saying that "before and after the Qingming Festival, melons, fruits and beans are planted".
Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. On May 20th, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Tomb-Sweeping Day announced by the Ministry of Culture of China was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The Origin and Legend of Tomb-Sweeping Day
According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jin people were very kind to Jin Wengong when he met with difficulties. When Jin Wengong proclaimed himself, he let Yamakaji go, hoping to get rid of Jietui who took his mother up the mountain to live in seclusion and get a salary. But meson would rather die than be an official and was burned to death under a willow tree. Jin Wengong deeply regrets this. Since then, every time Yamakaji was released, it was forbidden to make a fire in the palace to commemorate the meson push, which gradually formed the "Cold Food Festival".
After the Cold Food Festival, Jin Wengong set up the "Tomb-Sweeping Day" to offer sacrifices to Jiexiu and sweep its graves, and tomb sweeping became a custom again. Whether this legend is credible or not, there is indeed a meson push, which is recorded in Zuo Zhuan. It is just called meson push, and it is only called "hidden death", and there is no plot of Jin Wengong releasing Yamakaji. But anyway, one thing is certain, that is, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day have a long history.
The Cold Food Festival is actually an inspirational festival. Before Sui and Tang Dynasties, people paid more attention to cold food than Qingming. When he proclaimed himself emperor in Li Longji (Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty), Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping was formally included in the ceremony, which was one of the "Five Rites" at that time, and Tomb-Sweeping Day's status was thus improved. The Qingming holiday is linked to the Cold Food Festival and becomes a "small holiday" (4 days) in spring after the Lantern Festival.
When I was emperor in Hengli (Tang Suzong), I probably thought that the short holiday was not long enough, so I increased the holiday days of Tomb-Sweeping Day Cold Food Festival and increased the Qingming holiday of Cold Food Festival set by Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty from 4 days to 7 days. In the festival history of China, Tomb-Sweeping Day became the real "Golden Week" for the first time.
"Cuju bird for many times, swinging and weeping willows. Teenagers don't have to be clear when they travel every day. " The poem "Cold food is something of the East" by Wang Wei, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, describes people going out, playing football and swinging in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is very lively.
Wang Wei also said with emotion that young people should go out to play every day, so why wait until Tomb-Sweeping Day? Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in Tomb-Sweeping Day: "Leave a cold porridge and burn green tea." . Tomb-Sweeping Day made a fire to taste tea, accompanied by maltose and cold porridge, which must have a unique flavor.
In the Song Dynasty, Tomb-Sweeping Day was also a national festival. The Song Dynasty continued the practice of enjoying holidays in the Tang Dynasty. Cold food and Tomb-Sweeping Day together, the holiday is seven days. Moreover, the two festivals have been completely integrated and transplanted into some entertainment functions of the ancient Shangsi Festival on March 3rd. People like to come to the water when traveling.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is also an important festival in the Song Dynasty, even more important than the Tang Dynasty, and the custom of sweeping graves is more intense. This can be seen from the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival painted by Zhang Zeduan in the Northern Song Dynasty. The first paragraph is about people coming back from other places and sweeping graves in Bianjing (now Kaifeng). In Tomb-Sweeping Day in the Song Dynasty, both the royal family and the people held a series of activities, which were as lively as the Lantern Festival.
In the "Tokyo Dream China" written later, Mr. Meng, a native of Kaifeng Prefecture, described the atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day in that year: "The capital is clear, the fields are like the city, and cups and plates are arranged in the garden, rewarding each other, singing and dancing until dusk." The traditional custom of "clearing willow" reached its peak in the Song Dynasty. In addition, Tomb-Sweeping Day planted willow branches and admired rhododendrons, which was also sung by poets, making people feel the unique charm of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
With the travel in the Tang and Song Dynasties, the prosperity and excitement of Tomb-Sweeping Day ceased to exist. In the Yuan Dynasty, the system of multiple holidays for civil servants in the Tang and Song Dynasties was denied, and the holidays were greatly reduced. However, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Cold Food Festival were actually integrated in function and activity content in Yuan Dynasty, and it was still one of the most important festivals in Yuan Dynasty, just like Dan.
The imperial court will have a three-day holiday-you know, the Tianshou Festival on the emperor's birthday (called Tianchang Festival in the Tang Dynasty) and the solstice in winter only have two days. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Cold Food and Tomb-Sweeping Day completely withdrew from the national legal holiday sequence, and the government only kept three major festivals: New Year's Day, Lantern Festival and Winter Solstice. Although there are no holidays, people still like to celebrate the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, and go out to sweep graves and have a spring outing.
From the above, we can see that the customs of ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day in China are rich and interesting. Besides visiting relatives and sweeping graves, there are a series of customs and sports activities, such as hiking, swinging, cuju, polo and willow planting. According to legend, this is because Tomb-Sweeping Day wants to ban cold food and fire. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, we all take part in some sports activities to exercise.
Therefore, this festival has both sad tears to sweep the grave and tears to leave, and laughter with friends, which is a distinctive festival. To this day, the custom of worshipping ancestors and mourning the dead relatives in Tomb-Sweeping Day is still very popular. Tomb-Sweeping Day's ancestor worship is not a feudal superstition, but a yearning for his deceased relatives, warning future generations not to forget their ancestors and the deceased old man. This is the endless relay inheritance of Chinese civilization from generation to generation!
Brief introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day 3 The origin and customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day
China has a long history of slow fire. As long as it is a traditional festival or solar term in China, it can always be traced back to the source and justified. Do you know how Tomb-Sweeping Day got angry? Why do we have to sweep graves on this day? What other customs are there besides sweeping graves? Now I will introduce you to the origin and customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day:
1, the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day
It is said that the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day began with the "grave-sweeping" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals. Later, people followed suit, and it became a fixed custom of the Chinese nation to worship ancestors and sweep graves on this day. 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 name "Tomb-Sweeping Day" also comes from the Tomb-Sweeping Day atmosphere in the twenty-four solar terms of the China lunar calendar. 105 The first day after winter is Qi Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day gas * * * has 15 days. As it is Tomb-Sweeping Day, the time is after the vernal equinox. At this time, winter has gone, spring is full, the weather is sunny, the fields are bright and clean, and the vitality of nature is everywhere. It is an appropriate word to call this period "Qingming".
One hundred and five days after beginning of winter, the solstice was called cold food. In the past, fire was forbidden and cold food was eaten, so it was also called "Cold Food Festival" and "No Smoking Festival". According to folklore, cold food is to commemorate the burning of mesons in Mianshan during the Spring and Autumn Period, and Jin Wengong ordered the fire to be banned. Jiezitui is from Shanxi, so the custom of cold food is first popular in Shanxi. In the old days, cold food cut off fire, and the next day there was a ceremony to drill wood for fire in the palace, and the people also begged each other for fire with wicker.
2. Tomb-Sweeping Day customs
Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs are rich and interesting. In addition to paying attention to the prohibition of fire to sweep graves, there are a series of customs and sports activities such as jogging, swinging, playing cuju, playing polo and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because it is forbidden to eat cold food during the Cold Food Festival. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, everyone comes to participate in some sports activities to exercise. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, people avoid injections and washing clothes, and women in most areas avoid walking.
Before evening, a gray line should be spread in front of the gate, which is said to prevent ghosts from entering the house. Therefore, this festival is a distinctive festival, with sad and sour tears to sweep the new grave and laughter for an outing.
sway
This is the custom of ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day in China. Swing, that is, lift the rope, move. It has a very long history. It was originally called Qian Qiu, but later it was changed into a swing to avoid taboos. In ancient times, swings were made of branches and tied with ribbons. Later, it gradually developed into two ropes, a pedal swing. Swing can not only improve health, but also cultivate courage, which is deeply loved by people, especially children.
play football
Bow is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju is kicking the ball with your feet. This is a popular game in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor with the original purpose of training warriors. Playing polo is also one of the ways to play the Dragon Boat Festival. In front of Baiyun Temple in Beijing, there are also rules for the masses to ride horses and hit the ball. There were polo in the Temple of Heaven in Qing Dynasty, and polo didn't disappear until the middle of Qing Dynasty. In recent years, antique polo has appeared in Xi 'an, which makes this ancient sport reappear on the land of China after years of extinction.
spring outing
Also called spring outing. It was called Tanchun and Xunchun in ancient times. Qingming in April, spring returns to the earth, and nature presents a vibrant scene everywhere, which is a good time for an outing. Our people have kept the habit of walking in Tomb-Sweeping Day for a long time.