Talking about weaving wicker hats

Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of inserting willows, which has the function of keeping evil spirits in people's hearts.

Inserting willow is to break the willow branches on the willow tree, and then insert the willow branches on your own door, under the eaves, or in a bottle on the table, and some insert the willow branches on the bedside to prevent poisonous insects such as scorpions and dragonflies from climbing onto the bed.

There is also a "grave". There are two situations in the grave. First of all, when the old man dies and is buried, he should cut some willow branches and wrap them in white paper. At the funeral, every dutiful son took one, and after burial, he put the willow branches into the piled grave bag.

The second is to visit the grave in Tomb-Sweeping Day. In some places, willow branches should be cut off and inserted in graves. Those who "willow" and "stay" also mean to miss their old friends and have successors.

There is also a moral of inserting willows, that is, expecting a bumper harvest of crops. So some places put willow branches in the fields or around the threshing floor. Today, there is still a saying in Wuxi, Zhejiang Province that "green willows are inserted in Qingming Festival, and rice and wheat are too high".

Wear wicker. Wearing willow is to weave broken willow branches into a wicker ring (called a wicker hat in some places) and wear it on your head to ward off evil spirits. I remember when I was a child, every time before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the children in the village would fold some willow branches on the willow tree at the head of the village, weave a willow hat and put it on their heads. Children can't knit, but adults can knit for them.

Besides exorcising evil spirits, Liu Dai also means eternal youth and immortality. "Qingming without wearing willow, beauty becomes bright eyes", which means Qingming without wearing willow rings, black hair becomes white hair. There is also a saying in some places: if you don't wear willow in Qingming, you will become a pig and dog when you die.

It means that Tomb-Sweeping Day will become a pig and a dog if he doesn't wear willow in his next life. The way to cross the willow. Most of them will weave wicker rings and hats on their heads, and some will weave wicker balls to hang on their bodies.