Cold Food Festival, the day before the Qingming Festival, is one of the traditional festivals in China. On this day, people smoke fire and eat only cold food.
According to legend, this festival is to commemorate the sage Jiezi Tui.
Jie Zitui was a sage of the Jin dynasty during the Spring and Autumn Period, serving at the side of Gongzi Zhong'er (Jin Wengong). In the civil unrest in jin, Gongzi Zhong'er was forced to flee, and Gongzi Push was not afraid of hardships, always following Gongzi Zhong'er; once when passing through Weiguo, Gongzi Zhong'er and his entourage were chased by people, panicked, and fled to a desolate place, hungry.
At this time, Gongzi Zhong'er found that the meson was missing, and everyone said that he took advantage of the chaos to escape, and Gongzi Zhong'er thought that he was not that kind of person. Sure enough, the meson pushed a bowl of broth, hungry and hungry, wolfed down, and drank it all. This pot of soup is boiled by meson pushing meat from his own legs. Gongzi listened to this matter and was greatly moved, saying that after taking the throne, he must reward the meson well.
Later, Gongzi Zhong'er ascended to the throne, that is, the Duke of Jinwen, and when rewarding the meritorious man, he forgot to push the zi tui. Many people seek justice for the meson, and they want to seek justice for him. Meiko laughed and lived in seclusion with his mother in mianshan.
One day, Jin Wengong saw that there was no Jiezi Tui around him, and thinking that he had forgotten to reward this sage who "cut his shares and served the king", he was remorseful in his heart, and immediately sent someone to ask Jiezi to push him back, but he was rejected by Jiezi Tui, so he personally went to the deep mountain where he lived to visit. However, the mountains are layered and lush, but there is no meson pushing figure.
Some people say that the meson push is a big filial piety, if you burn the mountain, the meson push will take the mother down the mountain. Therefore, Jin Wengong ordered the mountain to be burned, and the fire burned for three days and three nights, burning the entire mountain to ashes, and did not see the meson pushing down the mountain.
After the fire was extinguished, the crowd went to the mountain to find out, only to see Mezi Tui and his mother burned alive under a large willow tree. Duke Wen of Jin was both grief-stricken and regretful, and ordered the thick burial of the mother and son.
While burying the meson, he found a willow tree hole in his spine, and there seemed to be something inside. He took out a piece of cloth with a poem written on it: "Cut the flesh and serve the king with all his heart, but may the lord always be clear." The ghost under the willow is finally gone, and it is strong as if he is a companion to the king as a courtier. If the Lord has me in his heart, remember me and always introspect myself. The subject has no shame in the Nine Springs, and is diligent and clear-sighted. ”
In order to commemorate Jiezi Tui, Jin Wengong ordered that Mianshan Bengshan be changed to "Jieshan Mountain", an ancestral hall be built on the mountain, and the day of setting fire to the mountain was designated as the "Cold Food Festival", stipulating that every year on this day there would be no fire and only cold food. The following year, Jin Wengong led a hundred officials of civil and military affairs, dressed in plain clothes, and hiked up the mountain to show his sorrow. After the sacrifice, Jin Wengong named the willow tree that came back from the dead "Qingming Liu" and designated this day as "Qingming Festival".