Speaking of the "Cold Food Festival",
Many people immediately think of the Qingming Festival,
Thinking of the death of Jie Zitui.
In fact, the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival,
are two different festivals,
It's just very close.
When is the Winter Food Festival?
The Cold Food Festival, also known as the "No Smoking Festival", "Cold Festival", and "One Hundred and Five Festivals", is on the 105th day after the winter solstice in the summer calendar, that is, one or two days before the Qingming Festival.
The main custom of this festival is to prohibit fire, no fire is allowed to cook, only prepared cooked food and cold food can be eaten, hence the name.
Regarding the origin of the Cold Food Festival, the most widely circulated is the story of Jie Zitui and Jin Wengong. According to legend, in order to invite the reclusive Jie Zi out, Duke Wen of Jin forced him to leave the mountain by setting fire to the mountain.
However, Jie Zitui would rather be burned to death than go out of the mountain. Jin Wengong was very sad, and in order to commemorate Jie Zitui, he set the day when Jie Zitui was burned to death as the "Cold Food Festival".
In fact, there is no such thing as Jie Zitui being burned to death in history. According to the records of "Historical Records of the Jin Family", after Jie Zitui mother and son hid in the mountains and forests, they only never saw Jin Wengong again until he died.
According to folklore experts, the true origin of the Cold Food Festival is from the ancient fire worship. As we all know, in ancient times, people drilled wood to make fire, and the wood taken locally varies according to the change of seasons, so there is a custom of "changing the season and changing the fire".
And every time you change the fire, you have to exchange it for a new fire. Before a new fire arrives, people should be forbidden to make fires, which is also to prevent fires.
The ancient people were quite serious and strict about the prohibition of fire. A feather was inserted into the ashes of the furnace and the family was to be executed if the feather was burned.
Why did Cao Cao ban the "Cold Food Festival"?
During the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao once ordered the abolition of the custom of banning fire on the Cold Food Festival, and issued the "Ming Punishment Order":
Wentaiyuan, Shangdang, Xihe, and Yanmen are all free of fire and cold food for one hundred and five days after the winter solstice.
At that time, people abstained from eating cold food for more than a month, which was obviously not conducive to people's physical and mental health at that time. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a state assassin Shi Zhou Ju tried to change this folk custom, asking to shorten the festival period of the Cold Food Festival to three days, but in the Cao Cao period, it was still not implemented.
Cao Cao therefore had to issue a special decree for this purpose:
When it is ordered, people are not allowed to eat cold. If the offender is committed, the parents will be sentenced to half a year, and the principal will be sentenced to 100 days, and the chief will be sentenced to one month.
Under the official implementation, the festival period of the Cold Food Festival was gradually shortened, from the original one month to seven days and three days. Because the Qingming Festival was on the third day of the cold food, later with the passage of time, after the Tang Dynasty, the cold food festival was integrated into the Qingming Festival.
What are the customs of the Winter Food Festival?
In the inheritance and development of history, the cold food festival integrates many folk customs, mainly including eating cold food, sacrificing and sweeping tombs, swings, juju, hooking, cockfighting, etc.
Among them, about eating cold food, it is not the Qingtuan that modern people are familiar with, but a variety of cold foods including porridge, pulp, dumplings, rice and flour cakes.
In the book "Chronicles of the Years of Jing Chu" written by Liang Zongyi (about 501~565) of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a kind of cold food called "Ao Da Barley Porridge" is recorded. It is a kind of apricot cheese porridge made by boiling maltose syrup, barley grains and almonds.
The book says that this kind of porridge is milky white in color, and the wheat grains are like green jade, and it is kept in a clay pot, and if it is not touched, it can be kept until the eighth day of the fourth month. When eating, it is poured with sugar, that is, maltose, which is very delicious in comparison.
During the Northern Dynasties and Northern Wei Dynasty, the Chinese agronomist Jia Sixian's "Qi Min Yaoshu" also recorded a cold food called "Qingjing Rice". "Picking its leaves to dye rice, the color is green and light, and the food is yang. "It can be seen that this is a kind of dyed rice.
After the Song Dynasty, the customs of the Cold Food Festival were slowly moved to the Qingming Festival, including tomb sweeping, egg knocking, etc. However, although the Cold Food Festival has gradually been integrated into the Qingming Festival in the long river of history, its unique cultural connotation and historical significance are still valued by people.
Resources:
1. "How Much Do You Know About the Seasons", by Ma Dayong, Tsinghua University Press.
2. Ancient Chinese Festivals, edited by Wang Jun, China Commercial Press.