What are the customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day, introduced by Tomb-Sweeping Day?

In the history of China, it has long been a custom to eat cold food, forbid fire and pay homage to ancestors. After the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival gradually declined, and Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping and ancestor worship became a continuous festival tradition. Bai Juyi, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his poem "Cold Food and Wild Hope": "Who cries when birds are singing? The wind blows the paper money in the wilderness, and the ancient tomb is full of spring grass. Li Tanghua reflects poplar trees, full of life and death parting places. " Mysterious desert and heavy spring are crying, but people who are raining at dusk and dusk go home. "Song Dynasty poet Koguryo once described in a poem:" There are many tombs in the north and south, and the Qingming is different. Paper ashes fly into white butterflies, and tears are dyed into red azaleas. "At sunset, not a drop reached Jiuquan on the fox's grave!" Even in today's society, before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, people still have the custom of going to graves to pay homage to their ancestors: uprooting weeds, placing offerings, burning incense and praying in front of graves, burning paper money and gold ingots, or simply offering a bunch of flowers to express their memory of their ancestors.

spring outing

Qingming Festival is the time when spring returns to the earth. People took advantage of the opportunity of sweeping graves, and the whole family, old and young, enjoyed themselves in Shan Ye. When they got home, they broke some branches and put them on their heads. They were very happy. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, some people go hiking in the suburbs to express their stagnant mood since the severe winter, and go to nature to enjoy and appreciate the vibrant spring scenery. This kind of outing is also called spring outing, which was called spring exploration and spring hunting in ancient times. It means stepping on the grass, playing in the country and watching the spring.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a good time to go for an outing, so it has become an important part of Tomb-Sweeping Day customs. Ancient women could not go out casually on weekdays, and it was a rare opportunity for Tomb-Sweeping Day to visit the grave. Therefore, in Tomb-Sweeping Day, women have more fun than men, and there is a folk saying called "Women's Qingming Year".

Chuanliuzhi

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the time when willows sprout and smoke is green. There are folk customs of folding willow, piercing willow and inserting willow. When people go out for an outing, they break off some wicker branches, which can be played with in their hands, woven into hats and worn on their heads, or taken home and inserted on the lintels and eaves. There are proverbs that "a beauty becomes a bright eye without wearing willow in Qingming Festival" and "a dog turns yellow after death without wearing willow in Qingming Festival", which shows that folding willow in Qingming Festival is a very common custom in the old society. It is said that willow branches can ward off evil spirits, so it is not only a fashionable decoration, but also has the effect of praying for evil spirits. It may also be related to the custom of using willow branches to beg for new fire in the past cold food festival. Today, it seems that breaking willow branches at will is a kind of damage to trees and should not be advocated.

The custom of planting trees by inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day is said to commemorate Shennong who invented various agricultural production tools and tasted all kinds of herbs. On the other hand, it is said that the willow tree that meson held when he died came back to life. Jin Wengong named it Qingming Willow and folded it into a circle to wear on her head. This custom was later introduced to people. Although the sources of allusions are different, these customs are still inseparable from the joy of people returning to the earth in spring.

Qingming amusement

In addition to the above-mentioned customs of sweeping graves to worship ancestors, walking in the green and inserting willows, there are a lot of purely recreational customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day that have been loved by people for thousands of years, such as holding hooks, flying kites and swinging, shooting willow cuju, etc. These customs were once popular, but now they are no longer seen.

towing hook

"Hook" is an ancient name, but it is actually a modern tug of war. According to legend, in the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to attack the State of Wu, the State of Chu used the hook movement to enhance people's physique. It is mainly based on a hemp rope, and its two ends are divided into many small ropes. In the competition, a big flag is the boundary. At the command, the two sides pulled the rope hard, and the drums sounded with the music. The two sides cheered and shouted, which was very lively.

fly a kite

Flying kites is one of people's favorite activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day. The ancients believed that if someone was sick, they could write down or draw their illness on the kite, tie the kite in the air with a string, let it fly to the sky, cut the cable, and the disease disaster would fly away with the kite. Later, kites gradually developed into a popular outing entertainment.

play on the swing

Swing was originally called "Qian Qiu". According to legend, the swing was introduced by Qi Huangong, a native of Shanrong, a northern ethnic group in the Spring and Autumn Period, and became a folk game in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Cold Food Festival after the Han Dynasty. At first, the swing was made of rope and swung by hand. Later, it developed into a wooden frame with two ropes hanging on it and a cross board tied under it.

Liu She

Shooting willow is a game to practice archery. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, pigeons were placed in gourds, then the gourds were hung high on willow trees, and the gourds and pigeons flew out with bows, and the victory or defeat was judged by the height of the flying pigeons.

play football

Besides ancestor worship and grave sweeping, there are various outdoor activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day, such as hiking, outing and swinging. While paying homage to the sorrow of remembering, it also blends the atmosphere of enjoying spring with joy. Among these activities, "Cuju" is a very interesting activity. Cuju, the predecessor of football, is made of leather and stuffed with wool. According to legend, Cuju existed before the Shang Dynasty, and it flowed into the people during the Warring States Period. In the Han Dynasty, it was even used to practice martial arts in the military and was included in art books.

gamecock

In ancient times, cockfighting competitions prevailed in Qingming, which began in Qingming and lasted until the summer solstice. The earliest record of cockfighting in China can be found in Zuo Zhuan. In the Tang dynasty, cockfighting became a common practice, not only among the people, but also the emperor. For example, Tang Xuanzong likes cockfighting best.

Canhuahui

Silkworm Flower Festival "Silkworm Flower Festival" is a unique folk culture in Silkworm Township. During the past period in Tomb-Sweeping Day, this folk activity was held in Wu Tong, Wuzhen, Chongfu and Zhouquan. Among them, Aśvaghoṣa Temple in Zhouquan and Double Temple in Qingshi are particularly spectacular. Aśvaghoṣa Temple, located in the west of Zhouquan Town, is known locally as "the king of temples". Every year, there are many activities, such as welcoming the silkworm god, rocking the clippers, making trouble in Taiwan Pavilion, worshiping incense benches, boxing, playing dragon lanterns, lifting poles and singing operas. Some of these activities are carried out on shore, and most of them are carried out on ships, which is very characteristic of water towns. In recent years, in the activities of Shixiang in Wuzhen, only a few projects, such as meeting silkworm gods, stepping on white boats and lifting poles, have great potential to be tapped.