Qingming, or cold food, going to the grave?
Tomb-Sweeping Day Yuanyuan
Tomb-Sweeping Day is an important traditional folk festival in China, and it is also one of the eight important festivals (Shangyuan, Qingming, Long Summer, Dragon Boat Festival, Central Plains, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve). Generally speaking, it is on April 5 in the solar calendar, but its festival is very long. There are two kinds of sayings: eight days before the tenth day and ten days after the tenth day. These twenty days belong to 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.
To talk about Tomb-Sweeping Day, we should start with a very famous ancient festival-Cold Food Festival.
Cold food festival, also known as cooked food festival, no smoking festival and cold food festival. Its date is from the winter solstice 105, that is to say, it is only one or two days away from Qingming. The main custom of this festival is to ban fire, cook without fire, and only eat prepared cooked food and cold food, hence the name.
According to legend, the Cold Food Festival originated in the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period to commemorate the courtiers of Duke Xiang of Jin. Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, went into exile 19 years. He was followed by guards and made great contributions. Zhong Er returned to the throne, that is, Jin Wengong. Jiezitui carried his mother and hid in Mianshan. Jin Wengong went to look for it, but he couldn't find it. Therefore, he let Yamakaji leave, trying to bridge the gap. I didn't expect meson tui and his mother to hold a big tree, preferring to burn to death rather than go out of the mountain. Sadly, Jin Wengong ordered that Mianshan be renamed Jieshan (namely Jieshan in Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province) and that the day when mesons were burned to death be designated as Cold Food Festival. It is forbidden to make a fire and eat cold rice every year at the Cold Food Festival to show the meaning of remembering.
In fact, the real origin of the Cold Food Festival originated from the ancient system of drilling wood for new fire. Because of different seasons, the ancients used different trees to drill fires, which is the custom of making fires in different seasons. And every time you change the fire, you have to change it with a new one. People are forbidden to make a fire until a new one comes. This was a great event at that time. "Zhou Li Autumn Lawsuit Xuanjiashi": "In the middle of spring, it is forbidden to repair the fire with Muduo." It can be seen that he was walking in the street shaking the wooden head and ordered the fire to be banned. This is the company's propagandist, that is, a small official who specializes in making fires. When the fire is banned, people prepare some cold food to eat, which gradually becomes a fixed custom. Later, it was linked with the legend of meson push and became the Cold Food Festival, which lasted for one month. After all, it is unhealthy, so the date is shortened from seven days to three days and gradually changed to one day. After the Tang Dynasty, it was integrated into Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The customs of the Cold Food Festival include going to the grave, sightseeing, cockfighting, swinging, playing with carpets, pulling hooks (tug of war) and so on. The custom of going to the grave is very old. Where there is a grave, there must be a tomb sacrifice. Later, due to the integration with the custom of evoking souls in March, it was gradually decided to sacrifice on cold food. The book of the Tang Dynasty says: "In the twentieth year of Kaiyuan, cold food went to the tomb, and the book of rites was silent. According to modern legend, it is advisable to go to the tomb to worship the ceremony. " Song Yu's "Chicken Ribs" volume: "Cold food is buried, and there is no fragrance. Paper money hangs on the tree. People who go to the countryside climb mountains to watch sacrifices. Breaking in the air is called breaking money. However, due to the four directions of Shi Jing, a wine bowl (turn, rice) was set up, and the family took a spring outing. "
"The Story of Jingchu Times": "(Cold food) fighting chickens, carving chickens and laying eggs, fighting chickens and laying eggs." It can be seen that there was a game of cockfighting and eggs in the Southern Dynasties. Cockfighting is more common today, and egg fighting is mostly a game in which children in rural areas collide with their eggs. In ancient times, most of the eggs used for collision and fighting were dyed and carved (1ou, carved), which was very beautiful. Draw eggs. The custom of carving eggs originated from the "carving eggs" recorded in Guanzi. Undoubtedly, it developed from the ancient witchcraft of eating eggs for fertility and became the custom of cold food. Today, people still have the custom of eating eggs on Qingming Day (such as the "son-in-law" mentioned earlier). Cold food attacks autumn dryness. According to the Collection of Arts and Literature, Shanrong in the north played on a swing at the Cold Food Festival. But I'm afraid this is just a legend. Liu Xiang's Bielu records that he swings in spring, not necessarily in cold food. Another blanket, Wang Jian's "Gong Ci": "Cold food palace people step on the carpet." Dramas like pulling hooks and hitting carpets are not necessarily produced by cold food.
Because Tomb-Sweeping Day was angry on the third day of cold food, later generations gradually moved the custom of cold food to Qingming with the passage of time. After the Song Dynasty, the custom of cold food sweeping graves moved to Qingming. Customs such as spring outing and swinging are only held in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day rose from a simple agricultural solar term to an important festival, and the influence of the Cold Food Festival disappeared. However, the custom of cold food has been handed down in several ways and has been preserved in Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The custom of inserting willows
Tomb-Sweeping Day has beautiful spring breeze and trees. People go hiking, sweeping graves and going to graves on this day. Everyone should wear willow, and willow branches should be inserted at the door of every household. Where did this custom come from? There is a legend about Tomb-Sweeping Day related to Liu Yong, a great poet in the Song Dynasty. It is said that Liu Yong lives a dissolute life and often travels between 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. In fact, this custom existed as early as the Tang Dynasty. People in the Tang Dynasty believed that wearing willow branches when offering sacrifices by the river on March 3 could get rid of the harm of poisonous insects. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day was very popular. When people come back from an outing, they stay at home to avoid insects. Whether recorded in folklore or historical records, planting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day is always related to avoiding diseases and epidemics. During the Spring Festival, the climate gets warmer, and all kinds of germs begin to multiply in large numbers. People can only hope to shake willows and branches in the case of poor medical conditions.
Why does Qingming eat youth league?
Shanghainese had the custom of eating Youth League before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, which can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. According to "Zhou Li", there is a law that "Muduo is forbidden to burn in the fire in mid-spring", so people put out cooking and "eat cold food for three days". The cold food period, that is, one or two days before the name is unknown, is also designated as the "Cold Day". ? The traditional foods of the ancient Cold Food Festival include glutinous rice cheese, wheat cheese, almond cheese, etc. You can prepare for the Cold Food Festival in advance, and you don't need to make a fire to cook.
There is also a kind of "polished rice" in the traditional food of the cold festival. According to trivial records: "Shu entered the Cold Food Festival, picked Erythrina leaves, and dyed rice with fine holly, which was green and shiny." The Seven Courses in the Ming Dynasty also said: "The ancients used Erythrina leaves as cold food and dyed rice blue as a sacrifice. Ziyang is also angry, and now it has become a green and white jiaozi, which means the same thing. " In the Qing Dynasty, Lu gave a clearer explanation to Youth League: "Youth League cooked lotus roots are sold in the market, and it is ok to eat them cold."
Nowadays, some dumplings are made of green wormwood, and some are made of Bromus inermis juice and glutinous rice flour, stuffed with bean paste. It has been circulated for more than a hundred years, and it is still an old face. People use it to pay homage to their ancestors, but it is more important to try new things, and the function of the Youth League as a sacrifice is weakening day by day. So some shops selling green balls have an insight into this. In recent years, there are many kinds of green balls, including sweet and salty fillings, such as lard rose green balls, black sea crisp green balls and golden ear fresh meat green balls. However, it is really puzzling that these green balls, which were originally favored by people, ended in vain.