Why are there two different days in Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Qingming was just the name of a solar term at first, and later became a festival to commemorate ancestors, which was related to the Cold Food Festival. Jin Wengong designated the second day of the Cold Food Festival as Tomb-Sweeping Day. In most parts of Shanxi, the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day was the Cold Food Festival. Tomb-Sweeping Day in Yushe County and other places celebrated the Cold Food Festival two days ago; Yuanqu County also pays attention to Tomb-Sweeping Day's Cold Food Festival the day before, and the light cold food the day before.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China. Generally, it is around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar, and the festival is very long. There are two sayings: 8 days before 10 and 10 days before 10, and these 20 days belong to Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day originally meant grave-sweeping day, and the government of the Republic of China designated 15 days after the vernal equinox in 935 as a national holiday, also known as the national grave-sweeping day.

Qingming correlation

The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. "Almanac": "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to Ding, which is used for Qingming, when everything is clean and bright, and when it is covered, everything is clean and bright, hence the name." Qingming comes and the temperature rises.

It is a good season for spring ploughing and sowing, so there is a saying that "melons and beans are planted before and after Qingming". Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival in memory of ancestors. Mainly to sweep the grave, sweeping the grave is a concrete embodiment of being cautious and pursuing the distance, caring for the family and filial piety. Tomb-Sweeping Day is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, after the winter solstice 106 days. The state attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20th, 2006, this folk custom was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list. ?

However, Qingming, as a festival, is different from pure solar terms. Solar terms are symbols of phenological changes and seasonal order in China, while festivals contain certain customs and activities, which have certain commemorative significance. ?

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.