The Qingming Festival is approaching. According to custom, in addition to sweeping tombs and worshiping ancestors, many people will also buy and eat cakes. However, most people have actually forgotten the origin of eating cakes, and even "eat the wrong ones" Don't even know! In fact, in addition to the Qingming Festival, there was also a "Cold Food Festival" one or two days before the Qingming Festival. This festival was named because it was forbidden to cook meat on fire, and this led to the custom of eating cakes.

According to folklore, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Wen of Jin, Chong'er, lived in exile for 19 years before he came to the throne. During this period, five sages followed him to the death, and one of them, Jie Zitui (Jie Zitui), was killed in Chong'er. When he was hungry and cold, he cut off his own thigh meat and cooked it into broth for Chong'er to eat. Later, it was spread that he was regarded as a loyal man by the people. This is also the origin of the allusion of "cutting his thigh to serve the emperor". Finally, Chong'er was able to return to Jin to obtain After returning to the throne, Jie Zitui refused to be granted the title by saying that "no merit should be attributed to merit" and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion with his old mother.

However, when people learned that Jie Zitui had returned to his hometown to live in seclusion, they thought it was Chong'er who had abandoned him, so they created a folk song called "One snake only complains", which tells the story of five snakes following one. Dragons roam the world, and one of the snakes cut off its own flesh when the dragon had nothing to eat. As a result, the remaining four snakes finally found caves where they could live, and only the "flesh-cutting snake" lived outside.

Afterwards, Chong'er learned about the ballad. As soon as he heard it, he knew that it was telling a story about himself and Jie Zitui. He immediately sent someone to find him, and finally found that Jie Zitui was living in seclusion in Mianshan Mountain. Old mother, but because Jie Zitui refused to go down the mountain, Chong'er adopted the advice of his ministers and set fire to the mountain in order to force Jie Zitui to show up. Unexpectedly, after the fire burned for a month, there was still no sign of Jie Zitui. Finally, Chong'er sent people to search the mountain and finally found the mountain. Jie Zitui and his mother were found burned alive under a willow tree.

Chong'er regretted seeing Jie Zitui's body and took back the burnt willow tree to make wooden clogs. He looked at it every day and sighed and said, "Alas, one step." According to legend, this is an allusion to the word "one step." In addition, after seeing the body of Jie Zitui who was burned to death, Chong'er suddenly began to hate the smell of cooked meat, and ordered that no fire should be allowed in the palace. Over time, his health became worse and worse, and all civil and military officials* ** Ask Chong'er to fire again.

Finally, Chong'er ordered that on the anniversary of Jie Zitui's death, the whole country should not open fire for three days to commemorate Jie Zitui. However, food is the most important thing for the people, and it is beyond human ability to seek food and clothing. To avoid things, people have therefore developed many different cooking methods and delicacies. However, because they cannot turn on the fire, they can only enjoy cold food these days. For a long time, people have called it the "Cold Food Festival". The process of making cakes is also Because it does not require a fire, it has gradually become a must-eat food during the Cold Food Festival.

The exact date of the Cold Food Festival is approximately "the 105th day after the Winter Solstice", but because this day often overlaps with the Qingming Festival, and ancestor worship is a very important part of Chinese culture, Therefore, people in the past came up with an unwritten rule, directly setting the Cold Food Festival on the day before Qingming Festival. However, over time, most people have forgotten the existence of Cold Food Festival, and in the end they only remember to eat cakes during Qingming Festival. .