The Qingming Festival, a traditional festival in the mainland, began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years, and it contains the content of three festivals: the Cold Food Festival, the Shangxi Festival and the Qingming Festival.
Cold Food Festival is a day or two before the Qingming Festival, legend has it that it was set up in the Spring and Autumn Era to commemorate the Jin Kingdom's loyal minister Jie Zitui, on this day people will sweep the grave and eat cold food, because the fire is forbidden, people will prepare cooked food in advance for use during the fire ban, so it is called cold food.
A few days after Qingming is the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar, that is, the Shangcheng Festival, on which people will go on an outing, and the dates of Shangxi and Qingming are almost the same.
In the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival was the mainstay, and because Qingming was close to cold food, people extended tomb sweeping to Qingming. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Qingming Festival gradually replaced the status of the Cold Food Festival, and in the Republican period, the three festivals were directly combined into one date. People follow the traditional custom of worshiping their ancestors and going on outings during the Qingming Festival.
On May 20, 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Qingming Festival was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list, and since 2008, China has recognized Qingming Festival as an official holiday, which has continued to this day.
1. The origin of Qingming Festival
"Qingming Festival" is derived from the Qingming solar term in the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar calendar, which has a total of 15 days. As the lucidness of the solar term, the time is after the spring equinox. At this time, winter is gone, spring is in full swing, the weather is clear, the four fields are clear, and nature is full of vitality. In the concept of the ancients, 108 is a large number that represents completeness, auspiciousness, longevity, and profoundness, and placing Qingming in the 108 days after the winter solstice has a deep meaning. The name of Qingming is not only because of the clear growth of all things at this time, but also because the sun in this period is also a fresh sun, and the sun flowing in this period is also a fresh yang. The essence of "Qingming" is "fresh and clean".
Later, due to the close time of Qingming and Hanshi Festival, after the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Qingming directly replaced the main position of Hanshi Festival, and in the Republic of China, the Cold Food Festival, Qingming Festival and Shangcheng Festival were combined into one, becoming our "Qingming Festival" today.
2. The customs of Qingming Festival
During the Qingming season, the rain falls, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls.
Asked where the restaurant was, the shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village.
Qingming Festival is a good time for the revival of all things, spring and prosperity
0.1. Tomb sweeping
It is reported that in ancient times there was a custom of "tombs but not graves", that is, only graves were built without mounds, so sacrifices were not found in the register. Later, the tomb and grave, the custom of sacrifice and sweeping was supported. During the Qin and Han dynasties, tomb sacrifices became an indispensable ritual activity.
According to custom, the order of sacrifice is to first clean the cemetery, trim the weeds around the tomb, and cultivate new soil, followed by sacrifice, the wine, food, fruit, paper money and other items carried are offered to the grave of the relatives, and then the bow is performed to pray for mourning.
02. Stepping blue
Stepping Qing, also known as stepping spring, exploring spring or seeking spring, is an important activity of the Qingming Festival. On Qingming Festival, after paying homage to their ancestors, people will go on outings in the wilderness to breathe fresh air and enjoy the beauty brought by nature.
03. Cut willow
On the day before Qingming, children would go to the field to fold wicker according to the instructions of adults, and on the second day of Qingming, adults would get up early to stick wicker in the crack of the door. In my hometown, there is not only the custom of inserting wicker, but also touching eggs, going door-to-door will boil three or four eggs per person according to the population, children go out with eggs, meet a few friends and touch each other's eggs, whoever cracks the egg, who loses, and then the loser eats his own cracked egg.
04. Swing
Speaking of swinging, I think of Korean girls stepping on the pedals, swinging high, skirts fluttering, like fairies, they really understand swinging.
There are many theories about the origin of swings, one is that "swings" have appeared in ancient times, and it is believed that "swings" are a life skill invented by ancestors when looking for food in a harsh living environment. Another theory is that the birth of the "swing" is attributed to the nomadic ------ Shanrong in the Spring and Autumn period, and it is considered to be a project of Shanjung military training. There is also a saying that during the Tang and Song dynasties, some people believed that the word "swing" originated from Emperor Wudi of Han. During the reign of Emperor Wudi of Han, the national strength was strong, and Emperor Wu prayed for the night of a thousand autumns, and the harem reversed "thousand autumns" to "swings". Regardless of the source, swings have become a favorite game for children.
05. Fly a kite
Children return early from school and are busy taking advantage of the east wind to release paper kites.
This poem satisfies all my childhood reverie about kites.
The ancients believed that writing down diseases and tying them to a kite, releasing them into the air, and then cutting the thread could make disasters and diseases fly away with the kite.
3. The meaning of Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival is not only to remember the deceased, but also to be close to nature and cherish life. Its festive spirit is to "juxtapose life and death".
From the pre-Qin dynasty to modern times, the main activities of the Qingming Festival include tomb sweeping, sacrifices, cold food, green walking, etc., the most important of which is communication with the dead.
In the pre-Qin and Qin and Han dynasties, "seeing death as life" was a common concept among people, and it was generally believed that after death, people continued to exist underground or in another world in another form.
When we stand in front of our deceased ancestors, we may not help but think about the meaning of life, where does life come from and where will it go? How should I live my life?
As some people say, the cultural significance of Qingming Festival is to enhance the quality and value of life.
All in all, after the evolution of the times and historical changes, the main activities of the Qingming Festival are now tomb sweeping, stepping on the green and planting trees, but no matter how the changes contain ancient traditional cultural factors, I hope that our Qingming Festival, not only the Qingming Festival but also a variety of traditional cultures can continue to carry forward.
Finally, I wish you all a great holiday!