Why is the first day of October the Cold Clothes Festival? Do you know how the Cold Clothes Festival came about? What are the historical allusions?

Hanyi Festival is the first day of October in the lunar calendar. On this day, the ancients had some customs and habits such as offering sacrifices, giving clothes and cooking stoves.

According to legend, the Cold Clothes Festival originated in the Zhou Dynasty, and related poems recorded that "July is a fire, and September gives clothes". From September of the lunar calendar, the temperature will drop and the weather will gradually turn cold. In order to keep warm, people will buy some winter cotton-padded clothes, so the Cold Clothes Festival is also called the "clothes-giving Festival". Later, it gradually evolved into sending cold clothes to distant relatives and burning cold clothes for deceased relatives on this day. Now Tomb-Sweeping Day, Mid-Autumn Festival and Cold Clothes Festival are collectively called the "Three Ghost Festivals" in China.

As a traditional festival of sacrifice in China, there are many allusions about it.

The first one is about the folk "giving clothes" by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Early October is the season of rice harvest. At this time, the emperor put on his winter clothes and told the people that winter was coming, so they should pay attention to cold and warmth. After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, in order to comply with God's will, on this day, the harvested red beans and glutinous rice were made into hot rice to share with ministers, and the corresponding ceremony of "giving clothes" was held;

The second story is about Meng Jiangnv's husband, who came a long way to find a husband to send a warm coat. Her husband was arrested and sent to build the Great Wall. In early October, it was very cold. Meng Jiangnv took a cold coat to find her husband. Unfortunately, her husband has passed away, so she is very sad and angry and cries day and night. As a result, she cried down the Great Wall and saw the bones of her dead husband. So people inside and outside the Great Wall called the first day of October of the lunar calendar "Cold Clothes Festival" to commemorate the loyal story of Meng Jiangnv as her husband, and burning cold clothes on the first day of October became the custom of offering sacrifices to the deceased relatives.

There is also a saying that ancient businessmen used to promote sales. In order to sell paper, Hui Niang, a businessman, wrote and directed a farce to convince people around her that ordinary paper on the dead can also be used as money in the underworld. Therefore, there is the habit of burning paper for sacrifice on Hanyi Festival.