Why do you want to insert fresh willow branches on the tomb of Qingming?
Wicker inserted in the soil is alive and has strong vitality. There will be a shadow where it is inserted. The vitality of willows is particularly tenacious, and many willows are inserted in willows. As the saying goes, the custom of planting trees in Qingming has gradually formed.
During the period of Huang Chao, it was stipulated that "Qingming lasts for a period, and Liu Dai is the number". After the failure of the uprising, the custom of wearing willow was gradually eliminated, and only willow was popular. In some places, people put willow branches under the eaves to forecast the weather. There is an old saying that "the willow branches are green and the rain is raining;" The saying that there is another village.
2, insert willow to ward off evil spirits
Jia Sixie's Book of Qi Yao Min in the Northern Wei Dynasty recorded: "Take Yang Liuzhi to the government, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the government." People think that willow branches are spiritual and have the name of "ghosts are afraid of wood". Insert willows in Qingming Festival, when willows germinate to ward off evil spirits.
Among the people in China, willow branches have always been regarded as a symbol of expelling the plague. It is said that this statement originated from Buddhism. According to the Buddhist classic "Awakening Sutra", the Zen rabbi used willow branches to curse dragons in ancient times, while Guanyin used a clean bottle and a willow branch to sprinkle manna on the world with the water from the clean bottle to drive away diseases and eliminate disasters. Affected by this, people in China call the mascot of vitamins to exorcise evil spirits and eliminate disasters "afraid of ghost wood".
Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called Ghost Festival, because the ancients thought it was the time when hundreds of ghosts appeared and looked for it. Moreover, Tomb-Sweeping Day is also the season when wicker sprouts, so people will naturally insert wicker to ward off evil spirits.
3. Nostalgia meson push
Legend has it that when Jin Wengong and his ministers went hiking to worship Jiexiu, they found that the old willow trees that had been burned in those years had actually come back from the dead. Jin Wengong now named the old willow "Qingming Willow", and broke off a few branches on the spot and put them on his head as a souvenir. His ministers followed suit and became accustomed to each other. Tomb-Sweeping Day's willow crossing has become a symbol to commemorate meson push.
Tomb-Sweeping Day wears willows not only to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters, but also to pray for good luck and welcome good luck. There is a folk saying that "Tomb-Sweeping Day wears no willow, and beauty becomes a proud head". This is because green willows symbolize youth, especially women who wear willows. They cherish and miss their youth.
Extended data:
(1) Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, is celebrated at the turn of mid-spring and late spring. Qingming has two connotations: nature and humanity. It is both a natural solar term and a traditional festival.
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional major Spring Festival. It is a fine tradition left by the Chinese nation for thousands of years to sweep graves and remember our ancestors. It is not only conducive to promoting filial piety, awakening family memories, but also conducive to promoting the cohesion and identity of family members and even the nation. The culture of Qingming etiquette and custom fully embodies the humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation of respecting ancestors and cautiously pursuing the future.
The historical development of Tomb-Sweeping Day has rich cultural connotations. Due to different regional cultures, the content or details of customs vary from place to place in China. Although festival activities vary from place to place, sweeping graves to worship ancestors and going out for an outing are the same basic customs.
The name of Tomb-Sweeping Day is named according to the solar terms, which is related to the weather characteristics at this time. As soon as the solar terms are clear, the temperature will rise and life will flourish. The earth presents the image of spring and tranquility. At this time, everything "spits out the old and absorbs the new", which is pure and clear.
"Huainanzi Astronomical Training" said: "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to B, then the Qingming wind will arrive"; The "Qingming wind" in the article is a refreshing and clear wind. At the age of 100, I asked, "When everything grows, it is pure and bright, so it is called Qingming." "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, when it is covered, everything is clean and bright, hence the name.
The weather in Tomb-Sweeping Day is usually around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar, that is, the first15th day after the vernal equinox. It's a long time to pay homage to Tomb-Sweeping Day, 8 days before 10 and 10. These nearly 20 days belong to the Tomb-Sweeping Day period.
Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival are also called the four traditional festivals in China. On May 20, 2006, Tomb-Sweeping Day declared by People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Ministry of Culture was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage (category: folk customs; No.: X-2)
(2) sweeping graves is called "respect for time thinking" for ancestors. Its customs have a long history.
The Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital" reads: "In March, in Tomb-Sweeping Day, men sacrificed their ancestors in Qingming Festival, 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 began before Qin Dynasty, but not necessarily during Tomb-Sweeping Day, but after Qin Dynasty. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that it became popular. In many places in the south, such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Putian, Dehua, Yongchun, Anxi, Chaoshan, Hainan, Kunming and other places, the customs in other parts of Fujian are different, and the time of grave sweeping is not uniform.