What is the Cold Food Festival?

The Cold Food Festival is a traditional festival in China, after the summer solstice 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, climbing, swinging, cuju, crochet and cockfighting were gradually increased. The Cold Food Festival lasted for more than 2,000 years and was once called the largest folk festival in China. Cold Food Festival is the only traditional festival of Han nationality named after food customs.

The origin of the Cold Food Festival, according to historical records: During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled to other countries and lived in exile for 19 years. Minister Jiezitui always followed around and never gave up; Even "cutting stocks." Zhong Er tried to become a famous gentleman "Jin Wengong". But meson tui didn't want to make a fortune, so he lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan. Jin Wengong ordered the release of Yamakaji to force him out of the mountain, but meson was determined not to go out of the mountain and eventually died in a fire. Jin Wengong remembered his loyalty, buried him in Mianshan, built a shrine and a temple, and ordered the prohibition of cold food on the day of Jiexiu to express his grief. This is the origin of the "Cold Food Festival".

Before the calendar reform in Tang Ruowang in the early Qing Dynasty, Tomb-Sweeping Day was scheduled for two days after the Cold Food Festival. After the reform of the Tang family, the Cold Food Festival was held the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. The definition of the modern twenty-four solar terms follows that of the Tang Dynasty, so the Cold Food Festival is the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day.

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the present, the Cold Food Festival has a history of more than 2,600 years. The story took place in Shanxi, China, and was set as the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. On this day, the custom of eating cold food, offering sacrifices and having an outing has been handed down and accepted by the whole country. With the passage of time, the Cold Food Festival has quietly merged into Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the people represented by the Cold Food Festival have praised loyalty, honesty and political clarity for thousands of years.