Qingming is not only a solar term, but also a festival.
1. It rains a lot during the Qingming Festival
Qingming is a traditional festival in the mainland.
When it is in the spring of March, the spring is bright, the willow green and pink, the plants and trees are full of vitality, a clear scene.
The Qingming Festival is around April 5 every year, and contains two meanings, one refers to the solar terms, and the other refers to the festival. In terms of solar terms, Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms, and the 24 solar terms were determined by the ancient working people of the mainland according to the different positions on the ecliptic. The ancients divided the balance of a week near the ecliptic into 12 times, and the sun moved to a certain time for a certain solar term. Because it objectively and scientifically reflects the changes in temperature, rainfall, phenology and other aspects of the four seasons of the year, ancient people used it to arrange farm work. In the book "Hundred Questions of the Year", it is said: "When all things grow, they are clean and clear, so they are called clear." "As soon as Qingming arrives, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good season for spring plowing and spring planting. One folk song reads:
Qingming Festival, Shangtiantou, the emperor ploughs the land and drives the cattle,
The main palace lady went to deliver food, and the literary officials were behind.
It can be seen that from top to bottom, from top to bottom, how much attention was paid to solar terms and agricultural production. There are also agricultural proverbs in the south of the Yangtze River: "Qingming Valley and rain are connected, soak and cultivate the fields without delay", "before and after the Qingming Festival, plant melons and beans", "Afforestation, no more than Qingming" and other agricultural proverbs. There is an agricultural proverb in Bibei area that "Qingming morning, late summer, and grain rain is the right time to plant cotton". For agriculture, Qingming is a very important solar term.
Festivals are different from solar terms, which are a sign of time, but festivals contain certain customs and commemorative significance. So, how did Qingming evolve into a festival? According to the "Jing Chu Year Chronicles": "On the 15th day of the Winter Festival, there was a strong wind and rain, which was called cold food, and the fire was forbidden for three days. Based on this calculation, the cold food is two days before the Qingming Festival, and because it is very similar, people weigh the Qingming and the cold food together.
In ancient times, when it came to the Qingming Festival with light rain, people had the habit of forbidding fire and cold food, going to the grave to sweep the grave, stepping on the habit of youth travel and planting willows and trees. There is a folk proverb that "Qingming does not carry willows, and the red face becomes the head of Hao". In some places, before the Qingming Dynasty, the well ditch was cleaned and wicker was inserted on the side of the well, and it is said that the idiom "well organized" came from here.
Qingming is not only a festival of farming, but also a poetic festival.
2. No fire cold food
One of the customs of Qingming Festival is the prohibition of fire and cold food.
It is said to be pushed to commemorate the virtuous minister Jie Zi of the Duke of Jin Wen in the Spring and Autumn Period. As early as more than 2,600 years ago, Chong'er, the son of Jin Xiangong, left the Jin Kingdom and went into exile in order to escape the frame-up of his stepmother.
During their exile, Chong'er endured hardships and hardships, and once, under the pursuit of the soldiers, they fled into a mountain, and did not eat for several days and nights, Chong'er was so hungry that he could no longer move, so he sat on a broken seat and looked up to the sky and sighed. "Chong'er's death is small, I'm afraid that the people of Jin will not be happy in the future. The entourage Jie Zitui was very moved when he heard this, and thought that Chong'er still remembered the people at the moment, and he should be well protected.
So, Jie Zi Tui quietly ran to the quiet place behind his back, roasted a piece of meat on his legs, cooked it over the fire, and handed it to Chong'er with a bowl of broth in both hands. Heavy Ear took it, and ate it in a hurry. After that, I remembered to push to Jie Zi: "Where did you get the meat? Jie Zitui rolled up his pants and said: "The meat comes up from the leg, if the son is not enough to eat, the minister is willing to cut the other leg and belly meat to serve the king." Chong'er looked at the thigh that was still bleeding, and said to Jie Zitui with tears in his eyes: "If you treat me like this, one day, I will repay you heavily." Jie Zitui said with a wry smile: "I don't ask for repayment, as long as we get through the difficulties, you will become the emperor in the future, think more about how to govern the country, and seek more benefits for the people, I will be satisfied."
Chong'er went into exile for 19 years, and later, with the help of Qin Mugong, he returned to China and became the emperor, and rewarded all the people who were in exile with him that year, but forgot Jie Zitui. Someone shouted for Jie Zi in front of Chong'er, and Chong'er suddenly remembered, and he felt very guilty, so he immediately sent someone to ask Jie Zi Tui to be rewarded and sealed. But the official went a few times, but Jie Zitui did not come to receive the seal, Chong'er had to go to invite in person, only to see that Jie Zitui's door had been locked, and the neighbor said that Jie Zitui had hidden in Mianshan with his mother on his back the day before. Chong'er had to lead the soldiers to Mianshan, looking for and shouting everywhere, but there was not even a shadow, the mountains were high and the forests were dense, where to find his benefactor back then?
Someone offered a plan to ask him to set fire to the mountain, and if there were fires everywhere on the mountain, Jie Zitui would naturally come out. When Chong'er heard this, he felt reasonable, so he ordered Mianshan to be burned.
After a while, the smoke covered the sky, the mountains were full of fires, and the flames soared, reflecting half of the sky, but finally no meson was pushed out. When the fire was extinguished, he and his mother were burned to death together against a large willow tree. Chong'er cried when he saw this, regretted it very much, and then moved the body for burial, and found that there was a piece of bloody clothes in the tree hole, and there were several lines of blood on it:
Cutting meat and serving the king with all his heart, I hope the lord will always be clear,
The willow is a ghost and never disappears, and it is better to be a companion to be a minister.
If the Lord has me in his heart, and remembers me to reflect on myself often,
臣在九泉心无愧，愿政清明复清明。
After reading it with heavy ears, I cried bitterly for a while, and then buried the body of Jie Zitui under the big willow tree, changed Mianshan to "Jieshan", and also stipulated that every year on this day, fireworks and eating cold food should be strictly prohibited to commemorate it, and later it was called the Cold Food Festival, also called the Fire Ban Festival.
At that time, around the Qingming Festival, willow branches were hung on the doors of people's homes, and people also brought food to the tomb of Jie Zitui to sacrifice and sweep the tomb to express nostalgia. In the Three Kingdoms era, Cao Cao had given an order to "stop fire and cold food", and Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem of "Cold Food and Wild Wangyin", and in the Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that the tomb was swept for three days from "cold food" to "Qingming".
Now, the custom of people abstaining from fire and cold food on the Qingming Festival is gone, and the phenomenon of wearing willows on the head and sticking willows on the door is also rare. However, the story of Jie Zitui's self-immolation in Mianshan is widely spread, and when the Qingming Festival arrives, people always remember this loyal minister who "Shigan burned to death unjustly".
3. Tomb sweeping and outing
"Sweeping the tomb, on the day of the Qingming Festival in ancient times," the officials and scholars all went out of the suburbs to pay respect....... it can be seen that the tombs in the suburbs of the Qingming Festival have long been recorded.
Worship ancestors in front of the tomb, called tomb sweeping. Before the Qin Dynasty, there was a matter of sacrificing tombs, and it became popular in the Tang Dynasty. "Qing Tongli" said: "Year, cold food and frost festival, worship sweeping the tomb, the period of plain clothing to the tomb, with sprinkler food and cutting grass and wood vessels, Zhou Xuan sealed the tree, cut the thorn grass, so it is called sweeping the tomb." And it has been passed down to this day.
The ancient text above, that is, after the spring equinox, the ice and snow turn into grass and trees to recover, people go to the grave on the Qingming Festival, to remove weeds, add soil to the grave, and at the same time put offerings, burn paper money to entrust the filial piety of respecting the ancestors.
Nowadays, every Qingming Festival, in addition to going to the graves of ancestors and relatives, people also go to the martyrs' cemeteries to sweep the tombs, express their sorrows, and do our "respect for the time", which is also a very meaningful thing, do not forget the festivals that have been inherited for thousands of years.
Stepping into the green, also called the spring, in ancient times called the spring, looking for spring.
On the Qingming Festival, northerners revisit tombs, and southerners revisit the tombs. The historical materials of the Ming Dynasty said: "The northerners are heavy tomb sacrifices, every time they encounter cold food, the suburbs cry and look at each other, so that they can't bear to hear it, and the southerners borrow the tomb to be the tool for the game, and the paper money is not ashes...... The host and guest were all drunk. ”
Later, in addition to sweeping tombs, northerners also liked to go on Qingming Festival. Du Fu has the poem "Go green by the river, look back and see the flag". In the Song Dynasty, the wind of stepping into the green prevailed. The famous painter Zhang Zeduan's genre painting "Qingming Riverside Picture" vividly depicts the lively scene of the Qingming Festival centered on the outer river of Kyoto. In this long picture, there are more than 550 people, more than 50 heads of pastoral provinces, more than 20 boats, and more than 20 cars and sedan chairs. At that time, it was written in "Su Di Qingming Shi":
The pear blossom wind is clear, and the wanderer is looking for spring and half out of the city.
The sunset song is cleaned up, and 10,000 willows are warblers.
Qingming season, it is the spring back to the earth, Vientiane verdant, catkins flying flowers, birds contending for the beautiful scenery, is a good time for outings, people who have been bored for a winter, come out to go green, the mood will feel extraordinarily comfortable.
4. There are many poems about rain scenes
Throughout the ages, during the Qingming season, the air is fresh and sunny, but sometimes there is light rain. This led to the poetry of the literati of the past dynasties, and there are many poems about the rain scene before and after the Qingming Festival:
The egret flies in front of the Xisai Mountain, the peach blossom flows and the fish is fat,
Green hats, green clothes, slanting wind and drizzle do not need to return.
This poem is about the beautiful scenery in the spring breeze. Another song:
At first sparse rain, wash and clear, and burn the forest with bright apricots,
Hunan peach embroidered field, fragrant scenery such as a screen.
This poem is about the apricot forest and mountains after the rain has passed.
Good rain knows the season, when spring happens,
Dive into the night with the wind, moisturizing things silently.
The spring rain written by the great poet Du Fu is full of sound and color, and the image is fascinating. Du Mu also wrote a masterpiece that has been passed down from ancient to modern times:
During the Qingming Festival, it rains a lot, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls.
By asking where the restaurant is? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village.
This poem of Qingming Festival, the language is timeless, the scene is blended, and it vividly paints the scenery of the ancient Qingming Festival, which makes people feel like they are in the painting after reading.
There is a light rain from time to time during the Qingming Festival, which is when the conflict between cold and warm air is fierce, and the power of warm and humid air is increasing day by day, and it clashes with the cold air from the south from time to time, so it forms a "rainy" weather that is cloudy and sunny, cold and warm. This natural situation has added many poems, anecdotes and scenery to the Qingming Festival.
5. Qingming food customs
Different places will eat different foods during the Qingming Festival
Some places eat Qingtuan, some eat eggs, some eat steamed dumplings, some eat mustard rice, and some eat snails.
Xiaoxi only knows these few, what other food customs are there during the Qingming Festival? Welcome to add in the comment area.
See you at the next traditional festival!