What is the origin and significance of Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called ancestor worship festival and March Festival. It originated from the famous meteorological work "Almanac" in ancient China. "On the fifteenth day, the bucket pointed to Ding, which was used for Qingming. When everything was clean and clear, everything was clear and clear, hence the name."

The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day

1. The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day began with the "tomb sacrifice" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals. Later, on this day, people did the same, offering sacrifices to ancestors and sweeping graves. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation and has become a fixed custom of the Chinese nation. At first, Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two different festivals. When the Tang Dynasty came, the grave-sweeping day was designated as the Cold Food Festival.

2. The name "Tomb-Sweeping Day" also comes from Tomb-Sweeping Day in the twenty-four solar terms of the China lunar calendar. 105 The solstice after beginning of winter is the weather in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day gas lasts 15 days. As a solar term, Qingming comes after the vernal equinox. At this time, the winter has passed, the spring is full of vitality, the weather is fine, the fields are bright and clean, and the vitality of nature is everywhere. It is appropriate to call this period "Qingming".

3. 105 The solstice after beginning of winter is called cold food. In the past, fire and cold food were forbidden, so it was also called "Cold Food Festival" and "No Smoking Festival". According to folklore, cold food is to commemorate the burning of mesons in Mianshan during the Spring and Autumn Period, and Jin Wengong ordered the ban on making fires. Jiezitui came from Shanxi, so the custom of cold food was first popular in Shanxi. In the past, cold food could cause fires. The next day, a ceremony was held in the palace to make a hole and make a fire. People also use wicker to beg each other for a fire.

Tomb-Sweeping Day story.

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, went into exile to escape persecution. On the way to exile, he was tired and hungry in a deserted place and couldn't stand up anymore. I searched for it for a long time, but I couldn't find anything to eat. When everyone was in a hurry, I pushed the minister to a quiet place, cut a piece of meat from his thigh and cooked a bowl of broth for the son to drink. Zhong Er gradually recovered his spirit. Zhong Er shed tears when he found that the meat was cut off by mesons pushing his legs.

Nineteen years later, Zhong Er became the monarch, that is, the historical Jin Wengong. After he ascended the throne, Wen Gong rewarded the heroes who accompanied him in exile at first, but forgot to push the meson. Many people complained about meson push and advised him to admire it. However, mesons despise those who strive for merit the most. He packed his bags and quietly went to Mianshan to live in seclusion.

Hearing this, Jin Wengong was ashamed and personally took someone to ask Jiexiu, but Jiexiu had left home for Mianshan. Mianshan Mountain is high and dangerous, with dense trees. It's hard to find two people. Someone offered a plan to burn Mianshan from three sides and force a meson to push out. The fire burned all over Mianshan, but there was no trace of meson push. After the fire was put out, it was found that Jiezitui had sat under an old willow tree with his old mother on his back and died. Jin Wengong cried. When I was buried, I found a bloody book in a tree hole, which said, "May my master be clear forever." To commemorate meson tui, Jin Wengong ordered that this day be designated as Cold Food Festival. The following year, Jin Wengong led the minister to climb a mountain to pay homage, and found that the old willow tree came back from the dead. He named the old willow "Qingming Willow" and told the world that the day after the Cold Food Festival was designated as Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Holiday arrangements in Tomb-Sweeping Day

Tomb-Sweeping Day is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, after the winter solstice 106 days. Grave-sweeping activities are generally carried out in Tomb-Sweeping Day (Qingming in the morning and cold food at night) before 10 or after 10. In some places, people's grave-sweeping activities last for a month. Officials sometimes delay their duties when they go back to their hometowns to sweep graves. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty issued a decree to solve the problem of holidays. At first, it was stipulated that the Cold Food Festival had four days off: in the 24th year of Kaiyuan (736), February 21st, the Cold Food Festival and Qingming four days were holidays. ("Tang Yao Hui" Volume 82) According to the imperial edict of the twelfth year of Dali (777), the yamen in the Tang Dynasty had five days off as usual: from now on, the cold food was clear and the holiday was five days. In the sixth year of Zhenyuan (790), the holiday was increased to seven days. In this way, officials can calmly pay homage to the grave. It can be seen that the Cold Food Festival has become a very grand national festival in the Tang Dynasty. Wang Lengran's Cold Food in Tang Dynasty said: Cold food before spring is not as good as wax after autumn. That is, the importance of the Cold Food Festival exceeds that of the Double Ninth Festival and the twelfth lunar month at the end of the year. The Cold Food Festival in Song Dynasty also had seven days' holiday. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Pang's Wenchang Magazine recorded that the seventy-year-old ancestor worship holiday lasted for six days, including Yuan Day, Cold Food and Winter Solstice. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Chen's Chronicle of Years Old quoted Song Luyuanming's Miscellanies of Years Old, saying that the first two days of Tomb-Sweeping Day were cold food festivals, with three days before and after and seven days off. Civil fire ban 104 days, called private cold food, also known as big cold food. Northerners always use this day to worship the sweeper first. There is a saying that there is no way out in the moon, and there is cold food in January.

1935, the government of the Republic of China designated April 5th as a national holiday in Tomb-Sweeping Day. On February 7th, 2007, the 1 98th executive meeting of the State Council adopted a decision on amending the National Festival and Remembrance Day, which stipulated that Tomb-Sweeping Day would have a holiday of1day (Lunar Qingming Festival). In 2008, Tomb-Sweeping Day officially became a legal holiday, with one day off. It was changed to three days in 2009. 20 14 Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday is from April 5th to April 7th.

Tomb-Sweeping Day custom

Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs are rich and interesting. In addition to paying attention to the prohibition of fire to sweep graves, there are a series of customs and sports activities such as jogging, swinging, cuju, playing polo and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because Tomb-Sweeping Day wants to ban cold food and fire. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, we all take part in some sports activities to exercise. Therefore, this festival is a distinctive festival, with both sad tears to sweep graves and laughter for an outing.

First, sweep the grave.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Grave-sweeping is commonly known as going to the grave and offering sacrifices to the dead. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

According to the old custom, when sweeping graves, people should bring food, wine, fruit, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer food to the graves of their loved ones, then burn the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, break some green branches and insert them in front of the graves, then kowtow and worship, and finally go home after eating and drinking. The poem Qingming written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said: "There are many rains during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " Write about the special atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Second, go for an outing.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the outing festival, according to the solar calendar, between April 4th and 6th every year, it is the season of beautiful spring and lush vegetation, and it is also a good time for people to have a spring outing (called outing in ancient times), so the ancients had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming and carrying out a series of sports activities.

Third, eat green balls (Tomb-Sweeping Day)

During the Qingming Festival, there is always a special food in the south of the Yangtze River-Qingming Pot, and there are places called Qing Tuan, Rake, wormwood jiaozi, wormwood cake and so on. Qingming pot is made of wormwood, kneaded with glutinous rice flour or rice flour, and lined with white sugar, bean paste, meat stuffing and vegetable stuffing. The taste is sweet and salty, soft and waxy.

Fourth, cockfighting.

Cockfighting was once popular in Ming and Qing dynasties, and it was an aristocratic game of ancient dignitaries and landlords. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, it was recorded in Zuo Zhuan. But after the mid-Qing Dynasty, cockfighting slowly disappeared.

Flying kites

Kites are also called "paper kites" and "kites". Flying kites is the most popular activity in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Kite is an aircraft that sticks paper or silk with bamboo strips and other skeletons, pulls a long line on it, and drops it into the sky under the action of wind. It belongs to an aircraft that only uses aerodynamic force. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, people not only wore it during the day, but also at night. At night, a string of colored lanterns is hung under the kite or on the wind-stabilizing stay, like twinkling stars, which is called "magic lamp". Someone used to put kites in the blue sky, then cut the strings and let the breeze send them to the ends of the earth. It is said that this can eliminate diseases and disasters and bring good luck to yourself.

Tomb-Sweeping Day's poems

1, Qingming late spring, I see the northern hills. Flirting opens a new flame with a fire, and tung flowers make old branches. -"Qingming" 2. What about Nao Nao? Can this bridge be out of danger? The maple leaves in the distant mountains are pale outside, and the broken houses are beside the lonely wheat. The spring breeze is coming again, and all the new buildings are gone. Pear blossoms are cold food, and it is only when you enter the festival that you are worried. -Song Yang Wanli "Cold Food Tomb"

3. The tiller loves the boat, and the spring grass is green and boundless; Try going to the Wumen Gate to see the county Guo, there is new smoke in Qingming. -Zhang Tang Ji "Lumen down to business"

4, no flowers, no wine is too clear, and the taste is bleak like a wild monk. Yesterday, I discussed new kindling from my neighbor's house, and early in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I lit in front of the window and sat down to study. -Wang Song Yuqiao "Qingming"

5. Try to go to the Wumen Gate to see the county Guo, and there are new cigarettes in Qingming. -"The True Story of Lumen"

6. The bells and drums are far away from the sun, and the drivers sell night clothes. The kitchen has become a new fire, and the willows are dark and frosted. Look at China through the mirror and talk about your hometown with a cup. Every time I feel my child's tears, I will touch my clothes today. -Don Dai Shulun, "Qingming sends Deng Rui's second son home"

7, covered in blood and tears, it is sad to go home after chaos. In the storm, pear flower falls died, and the Cold Food Festival passed. In Tomb-Sweeping Day, several families will visit graves and be worshipped by future generations. -Gao Ming's "Qi sent back to the tomb of Shashang Province"

8. Scenery fireworks Qingming Day, singing and crying between cities. Why don't you go with Dongluo Water and bury his family in North Mangshan Mountain? There are no chariots and horses in the middle bridge, and crossing the boat is not idle. There are a sea of people burying graves, and Liaodong is disappointed to see cranes flying back. -Tang Juyi's The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, Going to Laojun Pavilion to See Los Angeles as a Gift for Taoist Han.

9, the city is full of wind and a layer of yarn, and the lonely peaks and green hills are not at home. Looking forward to a hundred years of soil, the lonely moon on earth reflects pear blossoms. -"Qingming"

10, light red stained with rain, just for fatigue and confusion. -"Poems of Tomb-Sweeping Day"