The solar term custom of pursuing the distance carefully: sweeping graves from winter to Sunday?

Grave-sweeping, called "thinking with respect for time" for ancestors, is a long-standing folk custom in China. During the year, people sweep graves, mostly in Tomb-Sweeping Day, but in many places in southern China, there is also the custom of sweeping graves from winter to Sunday. Then today's 24 solar terms will introduce you to the custom of sweeping graves from winter solstice.

According to "Li Zhou Guan Chun Shen Shi", "Winter solstice, to ghosts and gods." It can be seen that since the Zhou Dynasty, there have been winter solstice sacrificial activities. It is also recorded in the "Four-person Moon Order" of the Han Dynasty that millet cakes should be used as offerings from the winter solstice to worship the gods and ancestors, and everyone should serve food and wine together and bless the teachers and the elderly. This custom is the same as that of New Year's Day.

In the Tang and Song Dynasties, the winter solstice was also a day to worship gods and ancestors. On this day, the emperor went to the suburbs to hold a ceremony to worship the gods. On this day, people must pay homage to their parents and elders. Except for families who worship their immediate ancestors, all families with "ancestral halls" or "ancestral halls" should hold sacrificial ceremonies, which are called "winter sacrifices". After the ceremony, they held a banquet to entertain relatives and friends, which played a profound role in getting close to each other.

In modern times, people in some areas still celebrate festivals in winter solstice as in the past, and gradually expand to the custom of sweeping graves as time goes by. Most areas in the south, from Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanchang and Putian to Kunming, Hainan and Chaoshan, have this habit, but the specific practices are not the same.

For example, in Putian, Fujian, there are two parts: the Southern Ocean and the Southern Ocean. Nanyang Qingming sweeps graves, Beiyang sweeps graves from winter to Sunday, and Qingming sweeps graves less. However, Tomb-Sweeping Day is bigger than the winter solstice, so most people generally sweep graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Some families are used to sweeping graves before Tomb-Sweeping Day, while families sweep graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day and before the winter solstice, so families sweep graves on the winter solstice.

Another example is in Taiwan Province Province, where the tradition of offering nine-layer cakes to ancestors from winter to daily use is still maintained. On or before the winter solstice, people with the same surname and clan will gather in the ancestral hall and pay homage to their ancestors one by one in the order of generations, commonly known as "ancestor worship". After the ceremony, there will be a grand banquet for the people who come to worship their ancestors. Everyone will drink well and have long-term contact. This is called "eating ancestors".

Folklore experts pointed out that the original intention of the tomb sacrifice is nothing more than "preserving the capital and chasing the distance", and pinning the filial piety of future generations with the ceremony of sweeping. Therefore, the custom of sweeping the winter solstice in the south is the product of the combination of the traditional custom of sweeping graves in China and the local actual situation, the precipitation of the history of folk life in the south, and the call of Chinese national culture for roots.

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