Every year on the first day of the tenth lunar month, it is called "October Dynasty", also known as "ancestor worship festival". To send a cold clothes festival. Also known as Ghost Festival, this day pays special attention to paying homage to those who die first, which is called sending cold clothes. With Tomb-Sweeping Day in spring and Mid-Autumn Festival in autumn, it is also called the three "ghost festivals" in a year. In order to prevent the ancestors from getting cold in the underworld, on this day, people will burn five-color paper, send them warm clothes, and give them to send warm, a ghost. On October 1 ST, burning cold clothes entrusted the memory of the old people and carried the sympathy of the living for the dead. At the same time, this day also marks the arrival of severe winter, so it is also a day for parents and lovers to send warm clothes to people they care about.

Why to burn cold clothes

The origin and ancient records

This festival has existed since ancient times. According to research, as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the first day of the tenth lunar month was the day of wax sacrifice, and a grand ritual activity was held on this day. The Book of Rites and the Moon Order describes the situation of La Worship in the Zhou Dynasty: the son of heaven offered sacrifices to the gods of the sun, the moon and the stars on the social altar, and offered sacrifices to five generations of ancestors in the doorway, and at the same time comforted the peasants and promulgated a new work and rest system. In The Book of Songs, the wind blows in July, it was mentioned that "the fire will flow in July, and clothes will be given in September", which means that it will get cold gradually from September. People should buy warm clothes, so the first day of October [1]? Also known as the clothing festival. Therefore, the previous generation gave clothes mostly in September of the summer calendar, and the date was uncertain.

collection of imperial edicts of Tang dynasty (volume 77). In August of the second year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he said, "Those who worship are sincere and respectful, so they recommend new people, so they apply for frost and dew." It is the time to know the first king to make gifts and cover the feelings. ..... Self-flowing fire period, the business style changed to the law, carrying deep pursuit, feeling things and increasing the bosom, and poetry was given to clothes, which made it possible to save and rest, because the courtiers were still kind and private, and they were respectful to the gardens and tombs, but not standardized. From now on, every September 1 ST, I recommend clothes to the tomb, which will last for thousands of years and show my filial piety. Moreover, during the midsummer Dragon Boat Festival, there is no canon, and it is superficial and vulgar. Therefore, it is a change of wind. The situation is based on filial piety. People feel that they are dressed in the Han Dynasty, and they are presented to the ritual, and they are declared to be ordinary, so that they can know what they mean. " This imperial edict directly affected the folk custom of paying homage to the tomb and sending clothes. Since October was the first winter, and September was a little early, this custom was extended to October in the Song Dynasty. The custom of October New Moon in Song Dynasty is mainly manifested in three aspects: giving clothes, offering sacrifices and opening a furnace. Lv Xizhe's Miscellaneous Notes on the Age of Years contains: "In October, the capital will ban the school from guarding and give it a brocade robe. Thank you all. ..... The frontier guard, Du Cao and Zheng Ren Hou were all given brocade robes. The old Hebei, Shaanxi and Hedong transshipment made the deputy have no such gift. Ancestor dynasty, someone from Chen, is given a coat. All the armies will give the school robes. " (← Giving clothes) (Sacrifice →) According to the Record of Dream in Tokyo, in September, the capital of song dynasty in Tokyo "sold ghost clothes, boots and shoes, seats and hats, and burned the drama on October 1st", and on October 1st, "all the people went out of the city to have a dinner, and it was forbidden for those who made their debut in chariots and horses. Imperial clan chariots and horses, also like the Cold Food Festival ","Dream Liang Lu "recorded that Lin 'an in the Southern Song Dynasty was also" the scholars went out to sweep the pine in the suburbs on October Festival to worship the tombs. In the inner court, the horses and horses were sent to the southern class of the imperial clan to go to the palace to pay homage. " "Henan program suicide note" says: "if you worship the grave, you will worship it on October 1, and you will feel frosty." Song people first used "cotton ball clothes" for worship, and later called it "cold clothes", but Song people have not called it yet. [2]? In the Ming Dynasty, Liu Dong and Yu Yizheng's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital. Spring Field" recorded in detail the Cold Clothes Festival at that time: "On October 1st, the paper shop cut paper in five colors, made clothes for men and women, with a long ruler, called cold clothes, and it was sparsely printed and sealed, so it was like sending a book. Every family has a night drink, and the door is burned when it is called, saying that cold clothes are sent. New mourning, white paper for it, saying that new ghosts dare not dress up. The person who sent the white clothes cried, the female voice was nineteen, and the male voice was eleven. " Pan Rongbi's "Ji Sheng at the age of Emperor Jing. Sending Cold Clothes" has the situation of the Cold Clothes Festival in the Qing Dynasty: "October New Year ... the literati family worships their ancestors to sweep the grave, such as Zhongyuan Instrument. In the evening, seal the book, add five-color silk to make a crown with clothes and shoes, and burn it outside the door, saying that you will send cold clothes. "

The legends of the Cold Clothes Festival edited in this paragraph were born out of the pre-Qin etiquette of welcoming winter? According to the Book of Rites, October is the month of beginning of winter. On this day, the son of heaven led three officials and nine ministers to the northern suburbs to hold a winter welcoming ceremony, and returned after the ceremony to reward those who died for their country and to compensate their wives and children. How can the dead be rewarded? Giving them "cold clothes" should be the proper meaning in the title, and it will work from top to bottom, so it will become a habit. However, this view can only stay in inference, because the record of "offering sacrifices" and "clothing section of funeral clothes, boots, shoes, seats and hats" by the people on the first day of October did not appear in the literati's local records until the Song Dynasty. If the Cold Clothes Festival was formed in the pre-Qin period, it would be difficult to make a reasonable explanation for the record gap in such a long period of time. Therefore, some people infer that the formation of the custom of cold clothes festival will not be earlier than the Song Dynasty.

the legend of Zhu Yuanzhang's "clothes awarding"?

October of the lunar calendar was an important month in ancient times. At this time, it was the time when rice was harvested and put into storage. "It's the moon, and the son of heaven began to autumn" (Book of Rites, Moon Order), and the son of heaven told the common people that winter had arrived by wearing winter clothes. According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty. In order to show his compliance with the weather, he gave a ceremony of "giving clothes" on the first day of October, and made hot soup of freshly harvested red beans and glutinous rice for his ministers to taste. Nanjing folk proverb says: "wear cotton-padded jacket in October, eat bean soup and keep out the cold." The "Cold Clothes Festival" came from this. While people are adding clothes to avoid the cold, they also give winter clothes to wanderers who are guarding the border, doing business and studying in other places to show their concern and care.

Meng Jiangnv sent cold clothes thousands of miles away

It is said that this custom of sending clothes to the dead was initiated by Meng Jiangnv. According to legend, during Qin Shihuang's reign, there lived a gentleman named Meng in Mengjiawan in the south of the Yangtze River. The old couple respected each other as guests and were intimate, and often painted poems in the back garden. One year, an old man planted a gourd beside the rockery, with thick branches and lush leaves, and some vines climbed up the wall to the Jiang family next door. The vines of the string ginger family have a big gourd. After the autumn, the old gentleman said to the Jiang family, "Cut the gourd in half, and your family will be half mine. Unexpectedly, there was a lovely white and chubby doll in the gourd, which was raised by the Meng family through consultation and named Meng Jiangnv. Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, the girl is slim and graceful, and she is eighteen years old. Day by day, Meng Jiangnu salvaged the fan that fell into the water by the garden pond, and it happened that Fan Xiliang, who had escaped from the corvee and hid in the garden bushes, saw it. Xiliang is a handsome young man, so the Meng family recruited him as their son-in-law. Unexpectedly, just as the two married, the pursuers arrived, took Fan Xiliang away and sent him to the north to repair the Great Wall of Wan Li. Meng Jiangnv missed her husband day and night and was extremely sad. One day, snowflakes were flying in the south of the Yangtze River, and the north wind was blowing. Meng Jiangnv shuddered, thinking that her husband's clothes had been worn out for several years, and how could they resist the cold wind outside the Great Wall? She decided to make a cold coat for her husband and deliver it herself. So the cotton was thickly wadded and sewed with needle and thread, and a deep feeling of missing her husband was sewed into the cold clothes. When the cold clothes were ready, she said goodbye to her parents, carried them on her back and set foot on the road of sending clothes all the way. Along the way, sometimes it is rainy and muddy, and it is difficult to walk; Sometimes the money wind suddenly rises, flying sand and stones, and the sky is dark; Sometimes the mountain is high and the road is dangerous, with thorns and wild animals; Sometimes there is heavy snow, ice and snow, and the wind is biting. Despite the hardships, I still have a firm belief in my heart: let my husband put on cold clothes as soon as possible. However, when Meng Jiangnv came to the foot of the Great Wall, she never imagined that her husband Fan Xiliang was exhausted alive in the winter a year ago, and his bones were buried under the Great Wall in Wan Li. Hearing this, Meng Jiangnv burst into tears. While crying, she slapped the wall with her hands and shouted the name "Fan Xiliang". Meng Jiangnu cried for a tragic husband and scolded a cruel tyrant. In her angry complaints, the storm roared in the sky, and the raging waves rolled on the sea, and they all pressed against the Great Wall of Wan Li. Suddenly there was a loud crash, and a section of the Great Wall of Wan Li collapsed, revealing a bone. Meng jiangnu cried with the bones for seven days and seven nights in a row, and then burned the cold clothes, only to see that the cold clothes slowly floated, and gradually fell to Meng jiangnu for three times, and then fell firmly on the bones ...?

Folk ballads

The story of Wan Li, the daughter of Meng Jiangnu, seeking a husband to send cold clothes is widely circulated inside and outside the Great Wall. There is a folk song: "In October, every household sews cold clothes, and their husbands change them, and Meng Jiangnv Wan Li finds a husband to send them." The folks inside and outside the Great Wall call the first day of the lunar calendar, the day when Meng Jiangnu sent cold clothes, "Cold Clothes Festival". From now on, on the first day of October, people will cut cold clothes with colored paper and burn them on the graves for their dead relatives. Some hang the cold clothes they cut from twigs or insert them in graves. This reflects people's feudal superstition, but on the other hand, it also entrusts people with a kind of memory of their deceased relatives. ?

Businessmen's promotion tactics

There is another saying that "October 1st, burning cold clothes" originated from businessmen's promotion tactics. According to incomplete reliable information, this shrewd businessman lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but was the eldest sister-in-law of Cai Lun, the inventor of papermaking. The eldest sister-in-law was named Hui Niang. Seeing that Cai Lun's papermaking was profitable, she encouraged her husband Cai Mo to learn papermaking from her younger brother. Cai Mo is a hothead. Before he got home, he set out to open a paper shop. As a result, the quality of the paper made was poor and nobody cared about it. The couple had to worry about a room full of waste paper. Seeing that she had to close down, Huiniang had a brainwave and came up with a ghost idea. One night, the earth-shattering ghost cries rushed out of Cai's compound. The neighbors were frightened, and the next morning, they rushed over to inquire about it, only to know that Huiniang died of a sudden illness last night. I saw that when the house was a coffin, Cai Mo was crying and burning paper. Burning and burning, there was a sudden noise in the coffin, and Huiniang's voice called inside, "Open the door! Open the door! I am back! " They were stupefied, and it took them a long time to get back to their wits and open the coffin. I saw a woman jump out of the coffin, but who is Hui Niang? The Hui Niang shook her head and sang loudly: "Money travels all over the world in the dead, paper is money in the underworld, and my husband didn't burn it. Who will let me go home!" She told everyone that after her death, she went to the underworld, and Yan sent her to push the mill. She bought off all the kids with the paper money sent by her husband, and the kids all scrambled to make the mare go-money makes the mare go! She bribed Yan again, and Yan let her come back. Cai Mo put on a puzzled look and said, "I didn't send you money!" " Huiniang pointed to the burning pile of paper and said, "That's money! In the underworld, it's all about eating and drinking. " Hearing this, Cai Mo immediately hugged two bundles of paper to burn, saying that it would make the parents in the underworld suffer less. The couple's double spring performance can make the neighbors fall for it! Everyone saw that paper money had the magical effect of bringing people back from the dead, and they paid for paper to burn. Word spread from mouth to mouth, and within a few days, the paper hoarded by Cai Mo's family was sold out. Since the day when Hui Niang returned to the sun was the first day of October, people of later generations went to the grave to burn paper and pay homage to the dead. These two legends are sad and happy. Although the props are different (one is burning cotton-padded clothes, the other is burning paper money), they are all making an issue of the dead, and they are all dialing the family string in people's hearts.

the legend of "red bean rice" in Jiangsu?

Later generations regarded the first day of October as a mourning day, and took red bean rice as a drink. Up to now, there is a legend in Dafeng, Jiangsu Province, to the effect that there was once a cowherd who was hacked to death by the landlord for fighting with the landlord, and the rice scattered on the ground was dyed red with blood. This day is the first day of October. Since then, the poor have to eat red bean rice on the first day of October to commemorate him, and there are nursery rhymes to prove it: "In October, watch the cows run home; "If you refuse to leave, the landlord will slap you with three plows and a thin knife."

Editing how to burn cold clothes in this paragraph

Preparing offerings is usually done in the morning. After the offerings were arranged, the family sent the children to the street to buy some five-color paper, mingbi and incense foil for later use. Five-color paper is red, yellow, blue, white and black, thin, and some have cotton in the middle. After lunch, the housewife cleaned up the wok and called the Qi family, so that they could burn cold clothes on the grave.

Worship

Three Ghost Festivals and Cold Clothes Festivals, folk sacrifices are made to the grave, incense and wax are burned, and jiaozi and other offerings are arranged neatly, and the family takes turns to kneel and kowtow; Then draw a circle on the grave, put the five-color paper and Mingbi in the circle, and set it on fire. Some people not only burn Ming coins, but also burn luxury houses and cars made of five-color paper. While burning, they say, "So-and-so, you worked hard when you were alive, so enjoy yourself when you die, live in a mansion, drive a BMW, and pay attention to it, which makes you angry!" I am afraid that my loved ones will not live a good life in the underworld. Others, when drawing a circle on the grave, don't forget to add another circle beside it. Its purpose is to help those ghosts who have no memorial, lest they be extremely poor and take away the clothes of their ancestors.

customs vary from place to place

customs of sending cold clothes vary from place to place throughout the country. In some places where gold and silver are wrapped, the custom of "burning cold clothes" has changed. Instead of burning cold clothes, people burn a lot of ghost papers in a paper bag, and write the names of the recipients and senders and their corresponding names. This is called "wrapping". There is a name of cold clothes, but there is no reality of cold clothes. People think that the underworld, like the dead, can buy many things with money. Luoyang: There is a saying in Luoyang: "October 1st, oil chirp", which means that on the first day of October, people will cook and fry food, chop meat and wrap jiaozi, and prepare food for their ancestors. These things are greasy, and the operation room is inevitably full of hands and faces. Jin:? When sending cold clothes in southern Shanxi, we pay attention to wrapping some cotton in five-color paper, saying that it is to make cotton coats and quilts for the dead. When sending cold clothes in northern Shanxi, five-color paper should be made into various styles of garments, hats, shoes and quilts respectively. Even to make a set of paper houses, tile columns, doors and windows are ready. Apart from being smaller in size, these paper handicrafts look more exquisite and beautiful than real houses. Henan: In urban areas, Yanshi and other places, some people don't go to the old grave to burn cold clothes, but burn them at their doorsteps and intersections. On the first day of October, when it was getting dark, people grabbed a handful of earth ashes, sprinkled a circle of ashes in front of their homes, and then burned incense and paper clothes and mingbi to pay homage to their ancestors. People who pay attention to it will go to the crossroads not far from home to send cold clothes to "ghosts" in order to "return ghosts, but not be rude" and bribe those vagrants so that they can make peace with their dead. Xin' an county pays attention to other things: the newly married daughter-in-law has to add soil to the old man whose husband's family is new on the first day of October; Those who come to the temple to worship their ancestors have to play drums to cheer up Beijing: in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, most Beijingers followed the old customs and went to Nanzhi Store to buy cold clothes paper before the first day of October. It was made of colored wax paper that was burned with a funeral gown and cut into strips in the shape of cloth, usually three or four pieces of paper were broken. Pink ones are printed with white patterns; The white ones are printed with violet patterns; The yellow ones are printed with red patterns (usually continuous patterns of peony, chrysanthemum and butterfly). There are also plain paper. In short, it's just a symbolic thing. Some cut these cold clothes into clothes and trousers, others don't cut them, and they are directly packed in packages wrapped in paper money and banknotes for incineration. Some rich people who are more particular about it ask the paperhanger of the ghost clothing shop to paste some advanced winter clothes such as fur coats and leather pants. No matter what kind of cold clothes you use, you should mainly use paper money and paper ingots, and put them in packages for incineration. House door, set up a drink in the ancestral hall; Generally, people regard parcels as the main theme, and set up a drink in the class, mostly offering three bowls of dumplings. The rich are not limited to this, and there are no rules for dried and fresh fruits, Manchu cakes, cold meat and hot stir-fry. Burning incense and holding candles, the whole family kowtowed four times in the order of seniority (called "three ghosts and four gods"). Sacrifice, or send to the graveyard, or burn at the door.