1. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled and lived a hard life. He followed the meson and cut a piece of meat from his leg to satisfy his hunger. Later, Zhong Er returned to the State of Jin, became a monarch, and rewarded all exiles who followed him. However, Jietui refused to accept the reward. He took his mother to live in seclusion in Mianshan and refused to come out.
Jin Wengong was at his wit's end, so he had to let Yamakaji go. He thought that meson tui would be filial to his mother and would definitely come out with her. Who knows this torch meson mother and son burned to death. In order to commemorate Jie Zitui, Jin Wengong ordered that no fire should be lit on this day every year, and every household can only eat cold food, which is the origin of the Cold Food Festival.
Cold Food Festival is the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. The ancients often extended the activities of the Cold Food Festival to Qingming. Over time, people combine cold food with Qingming.
2. Zhuge Liang ruled Shu in the Three Kingdoms and won the hearts of the people. However, after his death, the court did not build a temple for him, and the people worshipped on the field road during the cold food. Later, the imperial court introspected and mishandled it, and formally attached a sacrifice to Zhuge Liang's ancestral hall (Liu Bei). However, the custom of cold food and wild sacrifice has been formed and evolved into a sacrifice to sweep the graves of ancestors.
In the primitive society where people only recognize their mothers but not their fathers, high mothers are ancestors. Sacrifice to Gao Qi is to worship ancestors. The first Cold Food Festival was held in late February, which coincided with the time to worship Shu Gao in ancient times. Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty established the Cold Food Festival as a festival to worship ancestors. Later, the Cold Food Festival was reduced to the last three or two days, or it was directly combined with Tomb-Sweeping Day, so the cold food festival grave sweeping became Qingming grave sweeping.
4. Liu Yong, a great poet in the Song Dynasty, often traveled to Huajie Liuxiang. Geisha at that time loved their talents and were proud of being favored by Liu Yong. However, Liu Yong was not allowed to have a career because of his bad life. Although he passed the Jinshi, he died in poverty in Xiangyang. His funeral expenses were all raised by singers who admired him. Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the singer will plant willow branches in front of his grave as a souvenir. It has become a custom to plant willow branches on Qingming Festival.
5. In ancient China, northerners regarded Qingming, July 30th and the first day of October as three ghost festivals, which were the time for ghosts to haunt and search for people. In order to prevent the harassment and persecution of ghosts, people put willows and put them on. Willow has the function of ward off evil spirits in people's minds. Influenced by Buddhism, people think that willows can exorcise ghosts and call them "ghost trees". Guanyin dipped willow branches in water to help all beings.