Legends related to Tomb-Sweeping Day

Legends, Stories and Related Customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day

I. Legendary stories (illustrative stories)

About the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day: According to legend, at the end of Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, the emperor gaozu of Han Dynasty, and Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, finally won the world after several rounds of wars.

When he returned to his hometown, he wanted to worship his parents' graves, but due to years of war, the graves were covered with weeds, and the tombstones were uneven, some broken and some broken, and the words on the tombstones were unrecognizable.

Liu bang is very sad. Although his subordinates also helped him search all the tombstones, he didn't find his parents' graves until dusk.

Finally, Liu Bang took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, tore it into many small pieces by hand, held it tightly in his hand, and prayed to God: "My parents are in the spirit of heaven, and now the wind is blowing so hard, I want to throw these small pieces of paper into the air. If the paper falls in one place and the wind can't move, it is my parents' grave. " With that, Liu Bang threw the paper into the air. Sure enough, a piece of paper landed in front of a grave. No matter how the wind blew, Liu Bang ran over and looked at the vague tombstone carefully. Sure enough, he saw his parents' names engraved on it.

Liu Bang was so happy that he immediately had his parents' grave renovated. Since then, Tomb-Sweeping Day has visited his parents' grave every year.

Later, folks like Liu Bang, Tomb-Sweeping Day went to the ancestral graves every year, and pressed a few pieces of paper on the graves with small clods to show his grave-sweeping.

Second, related customs.

Tomb-Sweeping Day falls on April 5th or 6th in the national calendar, because it falls on the 5th day after the mid-spring equinox in 24 solar terms, so it is not fixed on April 5th in the national calendar, nor is it determined by the lunar calendar. Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the National Tomb-Sweeping Day, was a national holiday designated by the government in 24 years of the Republic of China. China has a long history of offering sacrifices to ancestors. As early as ancient times, emperors and generals offered sacrifices to ancestral temples, and in the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius offered sacrifices to tombs, all of which were unique to nobles. After Qin and Han dynasties, the aristocratic system came to an end, and it was a custom for ordinary people to sacrifice their ancestral graves.

Generally speaking, Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave sweeping can be divided into two ceremonies:

(1) Hanging paper is also called "pressing paper". Generally, rectangular yellow and white paper or red, yellow, blue, white and black paper is pressed on the grave with stones or bricks to show that children and grandchildren have visited the ancestral grave. (2) Grave repair is an activity of decorating ancestral graves and offering sacrifices to ancestors. Weeds on ancestral graves are cleaned and trimmed once a year, and then some sacrificial vessels, wine, vegetables, fruits and vegetables are prepared as sacrifices. Sacrifices, such as leeks, eggs, squid, fragrant rice, taro and bamboo shoots, are usually placed in front of graves and on the back soil.