The traditional Qingming Festival in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Qingming is a very important festival in the beginning, once Qingming arrives, the temperature rises, it is a good time for spring plowing and planting, so there is "before and after Qingming, planting melons and beans". "Tree planting, no more than the Qingming" proverbs. Later, due to the Qingming and cold food days close, and cold food is the folk ban on fire sweeping days, gradually, cold food and Qingming on the merger of one, and cold food has become a Qingming alias, but also become a custom for the Qingming festival, Qingming day does not move fireworks, only eat cold food.
On the cold food, there is such a legend:
According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in order to let her son Xi Qi succeed the throne, Li Ji, the consort of Duke Xian of Jin, set up poisonous plots to kill the Prince Shen Sheng, who was forced to commit suicide. Shen Sheng's younger brother, Chong Er, went into exile in order to escape the disaster. While in exile, Chong Er suffered a lot of humiliation. Most of the ministers who followed him went their own way one after another. There were only a few loyal men left who followed him all the way. One of them was called Jie Zi Tui (介子推). Once, Chong Er passed out from hunger. In order to save Chong Er, Jie Zi Pui cut off a piece of meat from his own leg, cooked it over a fire and gave it to Chong Er to eat. Nineteen years later, Chong Er returned to his country and became the ruler, Duke Wen of Jin, one of the famous Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
When Duke Wen of Jin came to power, he rewarded those who had suffered with him, but he forgot about Jie Zi Tui. Some people complained for Jie Zi Tui in front of Duke Wen of Jin. Duke Wen of Jin suddenly remembered the old story, the heart of shame, and immediately sent to ask mesoteric push on the court to be rewarded by the official. However, after several trips, Jie Zi Tui did not come. Duke Wen of Jin had to go in person to invite. However, when Duke Wen came to Jie Zi Tui's house, he saw that the door was closed. Jie Zi Tui didn't want to see him, and had already carried his mother to hide in Mianshan Mountain (southeast of present-day Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). The Duke of Jin then sent his imperial army up to Mianshan to search for him, but they did not find him. So, someone came up with an idea, saying that it would be better to set fire to the mountain, lighting fires on three sides and leaving one side behind, so that when the fire started, Jie Zi Tui would come out on his own. Duke Wen of Jin ordered the fire to burn the mountain, but the fire burned for three days and three nights, after the fire was extinguished, did not see Kai Zi push out. Up the mountain to see, jiezi push mother and son holding a big charred willow tree has died. Duke Wen of Jin looked at the body of the mesquite push to cry and worship for a while, and then buried the remains, found the mesquite push the spine blocked a willow tree hole, the hole seems to have something.
Cutting out the flesh and serving the king, I wish my lord would always be clear.
It is better to be a ghost under the willow than to be an advisor to the king.
If you have me in your heart, you will always think of yourself when you remember me.
If I am not ashamed of myself in the nine springs, I will be diligent and clear in my administration.
Duke Wen of Jin hid the bloody book in his sleeve. Then he buried Jie Zi Tui and his mother under the charred willow tree. To honor Jie Zi Tui, Duke Wen of Jin ordered that Mian Shan be changed to "Jie Shan", built a shrine on the mountain, and designated the day the mountain was set on fire as the Cold Food Festival, telling the whole country to abstain from fireworks and to eat only cold food on that day every year.
When he left, he cut down a section of burnt willow wood and made a pair of wooden clogs in the palace, looking at them every day and sighing, "Woe is the foot." "This is said to have been the origin of the ancient term of respect used by subordinates for their superiors or peers.
The next year, the Duke of Jin led a group of ministers on a hike in plain clothes to pay homage and express their condolences. When he arrived at the grave, he saw the old willow tree come back to life, with thousands of green branches dancing in the wind. Duke Wen of Jin looked at the resurrected old willow tree and saw it as if he had seen Jie Zi Tui. He went to it respectfully, pinched a branch and wove a circle on his head. After the ceremony, the Duke of Jin gave the name "Qingming Willow" to the resurrected old willow tree, and designated this day as the Qingming Festival.
Afterward, Duke Wen of Jin often put the bloody book on his side, as a motto to spur his own ruling. He was diligent and clear, and he managed the country well.
Since then, the people of Jin have been able to live and work in peace and contentment, and they miss Jie Zi Tui very much. On the day of his death, people banned fireworks to commemorate him. Also with flour and jujube clay, kneaded into the swallow, with willow string up, inserted in the door, to summon his soul, this thing is called "the push of the swallow" (jiezitui also known as jiezhitui). Since then, the cold food and Qingming became the grand festivals of the people all over the country. Whenever cold food is served, people do not make fire to cook and only eat cold food. In the north, the people only eat pre-made cold food such as jujube cake, wheat cake, etc.; in the south, it is mostly green dumplings and glutinous rice candy root. Every Qingming, people weave willow into a circle and wear it on their heads, and stick willow branches in front of and behind their houses to show their remembrance.
In March and April, when the spring is bright and the peaches are red and the willows are green, one of the most important festivals in traditional Chinese customs is the Qingming Festival. The Qingming Festival is now known as No Tomb Festival. According to the Sunday, it falls around April 5, and according to the lunar calendar, it falls in the first half of March. Ancient people divided the year into twenty-four seasons and used this calendar to sow and harvest. Qingming is one of the twenty-four seasons, which occurs fifteen days after the vernal equinox, and according to the "Hundred Questions about the Time of the Year," "Everything grows at this time, and it is all clean and clear. Therefore, it is called Qingming." Therefore, "Qingming" is the name of the festival, and later added the cold food ban on fire and no grave customs to form the Qingming Festival.
Originally, the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival were two different festivals, but during the Tang Dynasty, the day for visiting graves was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The day of the cold food festival is one hundred and five days after the winter solstice, around the time of Qingming, so Qingming and the cold food festival were combined into one!
The custom of mourning ancestors in front of their graves, No Tomb, originated very early in China. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, great importance was attached to burials. In the Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Meng Zi's Qi Ren chapter also mentioned that a disgraced Qi man often went to Dongguo's grave to beg for food and offerings to the tomb, which can be brother, the Warring States period, dike tomb style is very prevalent. To the Tang Xuanzong, under the Shao set cold food dike tomb for the time of the "five rituals" one, so every Qingming Festival came, "the fields and roads, women all over, soaps and commissions beggars, all have to parents Qiu tomb." (Liu Zongyuan "and Xu Jingzhao book") tomb sweeping has become an important social custom.
And in the cold winter, and to ban the fire to eat cold food, for fear that some of the old and weak women and children can not withstand the cold, but also in order to prevent cold food and cold food to hurt the body, so it is set up a trekking, picnicking, swinging, playing soccer, polo, willow, tug of war, cockfighting, and other outdoor activities, so that everyone out of the sun Tai Yang, activities, increase resistance. Therefore, in addition to the Qingming Festival, in addition to ancestor sweeping, there are a variety of fitness activities in the field, so that the festival, in addition to the sentimental end of the prudent, but also a blend of the atmosphere of joy and enjoyment of the spring; both the parting of the tears of grief and sorrow, but also everywhere a fresh and bright and vivid scene. It is really a very special festival with a lot of characteristics.
It is one of the twenty-four solar terms in China. Because the twenty-four solar terms more objectively reflect the changes in temperature, rainfall, and physical climate throughout the year, the ancient working people used it to arrange agricultural activities. Huainanzi (淮南子). Tianwenxun" said, "Fifteen days after the vernal equinox, the bucket points to B, then the wind of Qingming arrives." According to the "time of the year and a hundred questions": "Everything grows at this time, are clean and clear. Therefore, it is called Qingming." Qingming, the temperature rises, the rainfall increases, it is a good time for spring plowing and planting. Therefore, there are "before and after the Qingming, point melon planting beans", "planting trees, not more than the Qingming" proverbs. It can be seen that this festival and agricultural production has a close relationship.
But, as a festival, Qingming is different from a pure festival. The festival is a sign of changes in climate and the order of the seasons in China, while the festival contains certain customs and commemorative significance.
The Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in China and the most important festival of worship, a day of ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as visiting the graves, an activity to honor the dead. Most Han Chinese and some ethnic minorities sweep their tombs on Qingming Day.
According to the old custom, when sweeping tombs, people should bring wine, food, fruits, paper money and other items to the graveyard, offer the food in front of their loved ones' graves, then incinerate the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, fold a few young green branches and stick them on the graves, and then kowtow and worship, and then eat the wine and food and go home at last. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Qingming": "The rain falls one after another during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Where can I find a tavern? The shepherd boy points to the apricot blossom village." It writes about the special atmosphere of Qingming Festival.
The Qingming Festival, also known as the Treading Green Festival, according to the solar calendar, it is between April 4 and 6 every year, it is the bright and beautiful spring grass and trees spit out the green season, but also it is the people of the spring tour (ancient called trekking) a good time, so the ancients have the Qingming trekking, and to carry out a series of sports activities of the custom.
Till today, the Qingming Festival to pay homage to ancestors, mourning the deceased relatives of the custom is still very prevalent.
Sweeping the graves at Qingming is a custom related to funeral rites. It is reported that in ancient times, "the tomb but not the grave", that is to say, only hit the grave pit, not to build a mound, so the cleaning is not seen in the book. Later on, the tomb and the grave, the custom of cleaning will have a basis. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, the tomb festival has become an indispensable ritual and customary activities.
The Book of Han.
The Book of Han. In terms of Chinese ancestor worship and the development of the sense of kinship, Yan Yan Nian's action is reasonable. Therefore, later generations did not include the ancient norms of the tomb sacrifice into the five rituals: "the common people's homes, it is appropriate to allow the tomb, into the five rituals, forever as a regular pattern." With the official recognition, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to flourish.
The Qingming Festival is a festival to honor ancestors. The main commemorative ritual is to sweep the tombs, which is a concrete expression of the prudence of the end of the day, the family and the family and the filial piety, based on the above significance, the Qingming Festival has become an important festival of the Chinese people.
The Qingming Festival falls on the 106th day after the winter solstice, at the intersection of mid-spring and late spring. Tomb-sweeping activities usually take place 10 days before or 10 days after the Ching Ming Festival. Some people of origin have tomb-sweeping activities for as long as a month.
Methods of Commemoration
There are various forms of commemorating ancestors on the Qingming Festival:
Tomb-sweeping is one of the earliest customs of the Qingming Festival, which continues today and has been gradually simplified with the advancement of society. On the day of tomb-sweeping, children and grandchildren first trim and clean up the weeds in and around the graves of their ancestors, and then make offerings of food and flowers.
As cremation has become more common, the practice of visiting places where ashes are deposited to pay respects to the deceased is gradually replacing the practice of grave-sweeping.
Chinese Singaporeans also erected shrines for the dead in temples, which became places of worship for the ancestors during Ching Ming.
Some families also worship their ancestors at home on Ching Ming Day.
On Ching Ming Day, one may go to the gravesite of the deceased, the place where the ashes are placed, or the shrine in the temple to bow in silence.
No matter what form of remembrance, the most basic ritual of the Ching Ming Festival is to go to the gravesite, the place where the ashes are placed, or the shrine to memorialize the ancestors. In order to make the ritual of honoring ancestors more meaningful, we should let the younger generation of family members understand the past struggles of their ancestors.