What's the difference between Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day and Tomb-Sweeping Day?

When Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, the Cold Food Festival followed. Now some people confuse cold food with Qingming, which is actually wrong. Because one is a farming solar term and the other is a folk festival, which is not the same thing. Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the twenty-four solar terms in the China lunar calendar, usually around April 4th and 5th in the Gregorian calendar. The Cold Food Festival is a folk festival, which originated from the story that Zhong Er Minister Jin Wengong Jiezhituining was burned to death on Mianshan Mountain in Jiexiu, Shanxi, and refused to go down to be sealed. One is farming solar terms, and the other is allusions and folk customs, which are two different things; But these two festivals are separated by one or two days, or even coincide on one day, so there is a saying of Qingming and cold food, also called Qingming.

2. Different cultural connotations

Before the Tang Dynasty, Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two consecutive festivals with different themes. The former mourns the past and the latter seeks new life. One yin and one yang, one breath for life, are closely related. Fire is forbidden to make a fire, and sacrifice to the dead is to save lives. This is the internal cultural connection between cold food and Qingming. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court fixed the custom of sweeping graves at the Cold Food Festival in front of Tomb-Sweeping Day by decree. Because cold food and Qingming are closely related in time, the custom of cold food festival has long been linked with Qingming, and grave sweeping has been postponed from cold food to Qingming.