Solar terms similar to the Cold Food Festival

Festivals similar to the Cold Food Festival are Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as Cold Food Festival, No Smoking Festival and Hundred Days Festival, which usually fall on the 105 day from winter to the future. The festival is close to Tomb-Sweeping Day, which was originally a day or two before Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The Cold Food Festival, also known as "Smoke-free Festival", "Cold Food Festival" and "Hundred Five-Day Festival", is held in the summer from winter to the future 105, and one or two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day. When the first day of the day is a holiday, smoking is forbidden and only cold food is eaten.

In the development of later generations, the customs of sweeping, hiking, swinging, cuju, holding hooks and breaking eggs gradually increased. The Cold Food Festival lasted for more than 2,000 years and was once called the largest folk festival. China used to celebrate the Spring Festival at the Cold Food Festival until it was changed to Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Main customs

In Tomb-Sweeping Day, on the 4th to 6th of the Gregorian calendar, grave-sweeping activities are generally carried out from the first 10 day to the last 10 day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and in some places, grave-sweeping activities last for one month. Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important "eight festivals a year" in China. As a festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day is different from pure solar terms. Solar terms are signs of phenological changes and seasonal order, while festivals contain spiritual beliefs and customs.

Ancestor belief and sacrificial culture are important factors in the formation of Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day is an important carrier of inheriting faith and family ethics. Qingming Festival is a cultural expression and an important way to thank ancestors and get close to human feelings. The custom of sweeping graves to worship ancestors in Tomb-Sweeping Day has become a fixed etiquette and custom theme.