"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".
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.
What do people eat in Tomb-Sweeping Day?
? 1, Youth League
As the saying goes, "Eating mugs before and after Qingming Festival keeps you from getting sick all year round" refers to the Youth League around Tomb-Sweeping Day. At first, the green ball in spring was only popular in Jiangnan. With the spread of delicious food, Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of eating green meatballs in many places. Green meatballs are beautiful in color, soft and waxy in taste, and the stuffing can be sweet and salty. Eating some green balls in moderation is good for your health.
The raw materials used to make green balls in different regions are also different, some are sage, some are mugwort leaves, wheat straw and so on. , each has its own flavor; No matter what you use, it represents the green color in spring and is the most suitable food in spring, so it is most appropriate to eat a green ball when you are in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
? Step 2: eggs
Tomb-Sweeping Day eats an egg, which keeps him healthy all the year round. This is because there was a custom of banning fire during the pre-Qin period. For a while, there was no hot food to eat. In this period, boiled eggs are the best dry food; Now, because before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, spring is blooming, and everyone likes to go out for a spring outing, boiled eggs have become a good choice, which is convenient to carry and nutritious.
Tomb-Sweeping Day eats eggs with two beautiful meanings. First, it symbolizes the perfection of the circle and the abundance of children. At this time in ancient times, people would paint boiled eggs in various colors, throw them into the river when they were in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and let the eggs flow down the river, and people downstream would salvage them and eat them; The second is to symbolize the meaning of breaking out of the shell and getting ahead. When Tomb-Sweeping Day visits the grave, many places will let children break eggs, which means breaking eggshells and getting ahead.
? 3.snails
There is a folk saying that "snails in Qingming are better than geese". Snails before and after Qingming are the best, because snails just woke up after a winter dormancy and haven't started breeding small snails, so the snail meat at this time is full and tender, and many friends like to eat snails at this time.
What do people do in Tomb-Sweeping Day?
1. sweeping the grave?
Sweeping graves on Qingming Festival is called "respecting thinking about time" for ancestors. Its customs have a long history. In the Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital", it was written: "On the Qingming Festival in March, men and women went to the grave to pay their respects, and the gold ingot was hung on the back of the sedan chair, and the road was full of embarrassment. Worshipers, mourners, weeping, weeding, adding soil to graves, burning ingots several times, and buying graves with paper money. If you can't see the paper money, it will be a lonely grave. After crying, don't go back, go to the fragrant tree, choose the garden, and sit down and get drunk. " In fact, grave-sweeping existed before the Qin Dynasty, but not necessarily during the Qingming period, but after the Qin Dynasty. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that it became popular. Qing thomas lee said, "On New Year's Eve, the Cold Food Festival and the First Frost Festival, you should offer sacrifices to sweep the graves. During the period, I will serve my bed with vegetarian food, use wine and tools for cutting vegetation, seal trees in the middle of the week, and break Cao Jing, so it is called sweeping the grave. " And spread to this day.
2. Go for an 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. China folks have always maintained the habit of going for an outing in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
3. 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. Therefore, China has the habit of planting trees in Qingming since ancient times. Some people even call Tomb-Sweeping Day Arbor Day. The custom of planting trees has been passed down to this day. 1979, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) stipulated March 12 every year as China's Arbor Day. This is of great significance to mobilize people of all ethnic groups in China to actively carry out activities to green the motherland.