The history and introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day is very simple.
About the origin and brief introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day, Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history. It is a grand ancestor worship festival in China, which originated from the ancient Spring Festival and is a traditional cultural festival to promote filial piety. Let's take a look at the history and brief introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The origin and introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day 1 "Qingming" was originally just the name of a solar term, which became a festival to commemorate ancestors and was related to the Cold Food Festival. Jin Wengong designated the second day of the Cold Food Festival as Tomb-Sweeping Day. In most parts of Shanxi, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day was the Cold Food Festival. Some places, such as Yushe County, celebrated the Cold Food Festival two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day. Yuanqu County also pays attention to Tomb-Sweeping Day's Cold Food Festival the day before, and the light cold food the day before.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China. Generally, it is around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar, and the festival is very long. There are two sayings: 8 days before 10 and 10 days before 10, and these 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day originally meant grave-sweeping day, and the government of the Republic of China designated 15 days after the vernal equinox in 935 as a national holiday, also known as the national grave-sweeping day.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, the first 108 day from winter to the future. It is a traditional festival in China, and it is also one of the most important festivals to worship ancestors and sweep graves. The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day of the Han nationality in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years.
Influenced by the Han culture, 24 ethnic minorities in China, such as Manchu, Hezhe, Zhuang, Oroqen, Dong, Tujia, Miao, Yao, Li, Shui, Jing and Qiang, also have the customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day. Although customs vary from place to place, sweeping graves to worship ancestors and hiking are the basic themes.
"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 comes, the temperature rises, which is a good time for spring ploughing and sowing, so there is a saying that "before and after Qingming, we plant melons and beans".
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. On May 20th, 2006, it was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.
The Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day's Ancient History
Speaking of Tomb-Sweeping Day, anyone who knows a little about history will think of the historical figure "meson push". According to ancient historical records, in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,000 years ago, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled and lived a hard life. Follow his meson and cut a piece of meat from his leg to satisfy his hunger.
Later, Zhong Er returned to the State of Jin and became a monarch (that is, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period). He rewarded all his followers who followed him into exile, but meson 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. To commemorate meson push, Jin Wengong ordered that no fire should be lit on this day every year, and every household can only eat cold food. This is the origin of the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The origin and brief introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day, according to legend, began with the "grave-sweeping" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals, and later people followed suit and sacrificed ancestors to sweep graves on this day. Over time, it has been passed down from generation to generation, becoming a traditional festival of the Chinese nation-Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Grave-sweeping is popular in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is actually the content of the Cold Food Festival in Tomb-Sweeping Day the day before. It is said that cold food originated from Jin Wengong's mourning for Jie Zhitui. During the twenty years of Emperor Xuanzong's reign, he ordered the world to "eat cold food in the ground".
Because cold food is associated with Qingming, it gradually spread to sweeping graves in Qingming. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, grave sweeping became more popular. In ancient times, children often flew kites when sweeping graves. Some kites are equipped with bamboo flutes, which can make a sound when the wind blows, just like the sound of kites. It is said that this is the reason why kites get their names.
Development and evolution:
Since ancient times, the Chinese nation has been courteous to its ancestors and cautious about the future. Tomb-Sweeping Day has a long history, which changes with the development of the times. Later, it gradually merged the customs of Cold Food Festival and Shangsi Festival. In ancient times, the north and south of China had different customs. Before the Tang Dynasty, grave sweeping in northern China was mainly in the Cold Food Festival and the Cold Clothes Festival.
According to the Book of Rites and other documents, before the Tang Dynasty, there was no custom of Tomb-Sweeping Day going to the grave to offer sacrifices to sweep, but in the Tang Dynasty, Tomb-Sweeping Day offered sacrifices to sweep has become an atmosphere.
The Tang Dynasty was a period of integration of China's northern and southern tombs' sacrificial customs, which followed the Qingming tombs' sacrificial customs and spread all over the country. After the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival gradually declined, because it was similar to Tomb-Sweeping Day. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Tomb-Sweeping Day rose to the position of replacing the Cold Food Festival, and incorporated the custom of forbidding fire and cold food into the Cold Food Festival.
The origin and introduction of Tomb-Sweeping Day is very simple. Traditional customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
1, cuju
Bow is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju is kicking the ball with your feet. This is a popular game in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor with the original purpose of training warriors. Playing polo is also one of the ways to play the Dragon Boat Festival.
Polo is riding a horse and hitting with a stick. In ancient times, it was called bowing. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a saying in Cao Zhiming's name that "there is a sentence in a row". In Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty, there was a wide stadium, and emperors such as Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Jing Zong all liked polo.
Ma Qiutu, in the tomb of Prince Zhang Huai, depicts the prosperity of polo in the Tang Dynasty: more than 20 horses galloped at high speed and their ponytails were tied up. Players are wearing shawls, boots and sticks, hitting each other one by one. Analysis of Golden Branches records the traditional custom of polo as a festival in Liao country, and polo is played on Dragon Boat Festival and Double Ninth Festival. Li Shizhi also recorded that Jin people hit the ball during the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "Ball Play Music" dance team. In the Ming Dynasty, polo was still popular.
Step 2 fly a kite
Flying kites is also the most popular activity in Tomb-Sweeping Day. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, people not only wore it during the day, but also at night. At night, a string of colored lanterns is hung under the kite or on the wind-stabilizing stay, like twinkling stars, which is called "magic lamp". Someone used to put kites in the blue sky, then cut the strings and let the breeze send them to the ends of the earth. It is said that this can eliminate diseases and disasters and bring good luck to yourself.
Step 3 sweep 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. Cry, don't come back, go to the tree, choose the garden, and get drunk. "In fact, grave-sweeping existed before the Qin Dynasty, but not necessarily in Tomb-Sweeping Day, 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.
Tomb-Sweeping Day's sweeping ceremony was supposed to be held in person, but because of the different economic conditions of each family, the way of sweeping was different. "Burning a bundle" is the main form of paying homage to ancestors. The so-called "baggage", also known as "parcel", refers to the postal parcel that Xiao sent from Shi Yang to the underworld.
In the past, Nanzhi store sold the so-called "wrapped skin", that is, a big bag was pasted with white paper. There are two forms: one is a woodcut version with Sanskrit transliteration printed around it and a lotus tablet printed in the middle, which is used to write the name of the deceased in the area code, such as "the late Zhang Fujun old man who was afraid of Yunshan", which is both a parcel and a tablet.
The other is plain foreskin, which does not print any patterns. Just put a blue sign in the middle and write down the name of the deceased. Also used as a master card. There are many kinds of money in the bag.