Near Qingming, there are many wormwood sellers, and it can be seen in vegetable markets and street stalls. Wormwood, a plant of the Asteraceae family, has many scientific names, generally known as mugwort. It is widely used, edible and medicinal, Chinese medicine is used for moxibustion, in recent years it is very popular to make foot soaking ingredients, and the Dragon Boat Festival is hung on the door to ward off evil spirits. And for me, the memory is still the green balls and cigarette handles when I was a child.
Tobacco handles are bundled with straw and wormwood and used to repel mosquitoes when cooling at night. After the cigarette handle is lit, the fire is extinguished, let it burn smoke, the smoke will emit an odor, mosquitoes smell this smell and no longer close, this primitive mosquito repellent method, in the summer without air conditioning, is still very effective.
The second is Qingdanzi. Whenever Qingming is in season, the family has to make green balls, even if the family is poor. When going to the grave, the green dango is indispensable. In ancient times, the ritual of going to the tomb was still prevalent, lighting red candles, incense, and offering tributes, and then kowtowing, burning paper money, and weeping graves. There are often aunts who cry in graves, crying so hard that they have to be persuaded to come down.
Why the tomb uses Qingdanzi, I haven't studied it, but I guess it should be related to the Cold Food Festival. The Qingming Festival, formerly known as the Cold Food Festival, was established to commemorate Jie Zitui after the reign of Duke Chong'er of Jinwen.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the prince of the Jin state, Chong'er, fled into exile in order to avoid the calamity, and the minister Jie Zitui always followed left and right, "cutting shares and monarchs". After Zhong'er became the Duke of Jin Wen, Jie Zitui did not seek Lilu, and returned to Yinmian Mountain with his mother, in order to force him to leave the mountain as an official, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to set fire to the mountain, but Jie Zitui died because of the fire. Duke Wen of Jin buried him in Mianshan, built a temple, and ordered that fire and cold food be banned on the day of Jiezitui's death to send mourning.
Because you can't cook on fire on this day of Qingming Festival, naturally you can't cook other foods, you can only eat cold food, so Qingdanzi should be born, and the green dumplings made of mugwort leaves will not be bad for a few days, and it is naturally the best as a tribute, both photogenic and delicious. Nowadays, it is not popular to pay tribute to Qingming tomb sweeping, but Qingdanzi as a folk delicacy will not be given up and will be passed down forever. #所见所得, it's all scientific #
