Introduction to the Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day

Introduction to the Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day

Introduction to the Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day Tomb-Sweeping Day is one of the important traditional festivals in China, which originated from the belief and custom of ancient spring sacrifice. This is an ancient festival, which has preserved various customs in its historical development. Let's look at the history of Tomb-Sweeping Day.

A brief introduction to the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day 1 The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day is said to have started with the "tomb sacrifice" ceremony of ancient emperors and generals. Later, people followed suit, and it became a fixed custom of the Chinese nation to worship ancestors and sweep graves on this day.

Originally, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of sweeping graves was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The correct date of the Cold Food Festival is from winter to the future 105, around Tomb-Sweeping Day. Because the two dates are similar, Tomb-Sweeping Day and Cold Food merged into one day.

The origin of Qingming

According to legend, in the Spring and Autumn Period, Jin Xiangong's favorite wanted her son to inherit the throne, so she planned to murder the prince. Prince Shen Sheng was forced to commit suicide. After Shen Sheng's death, his younger brother Zhong Er had to go into exile to escape the war. Zhong Er is the later Jin Wengong, modest and studious, good at making talented people, surrounded by many talented friends.

Zhong Er suffered a lot of humiliation during his exile. When the future was bleak, all the courtiers who followed him abandoned him, leaving only a few loyal people around.

During this period, Zhong Er experienced many hardships. On one occasion, Zhong Er was so tired and hungry on the road that she almost fainted. His courtier Jietui cut a piece of meat from his thigh to cook soup for Zhong Er. Zhong Er was moved to tears when he learned about it.

In the spring of 636, with the support of Qin Mugong, Zhong Er returned to the State of Jin and killed Duke Huai of Jin. At this point, Zhong Er was in exile 19 years before he succeeded to the throne as the monarch, namely Jin Wengong. When Jin Wengong became a monarch, it was natural for him to reward officials who followed him into exile. But Jin Wengong forgot to cut his meat in exile.

What about meson push? He was indifferent to fame and fortune, so he went to Mianshan to live in seclusion. When Jin Wengong realized his mistake, he regretted it, so he sent people everywhere to look for mesons. Knowing that Jietui lived in seclusion in Mianshan, Jin Wengong ordered people to search the mountain, but found no Jietui. Jin Wengong burned Mianshan in despair and tried to force Jiexiu to appear, but he killed Jiexiu.

Jin Wengong found meson push, carrying his mother died under an old withered willow tree. Jiezitui left his last words: "May your master always be clear." Jin Wengong was so sad that he designated this day as Cold Food Festival.

In the second year, Jin Wengong personally led the minister to climb the mountain to pay homage to Jiexiu, and found that the old willow tree that was burned to death last year actually came back from the dead. Jin Wengong now named this old willow "Qingming Willow" and named the second day of the Cold Food Festival "Tomb-Sweeping Day". I broke some wicker on the spot and put it on my head to show my memory.

Since then, Qingming has become a symbol to commemorate meson push. Although after more than 2,000 years of evolution, Tomb-Sweeping Day has developed different customs, such as tug-of-war, swinging and cockfighting. But the theme of sweeping graves to worship ancestors has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Introduction to the Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day II. During the Qingming Festival, spring returns to the earth and everything recovers. People will not only visit graves to worship their ancestors, but also go on outings and other activities. Therefore, Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called Youth Day.

Traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000 years. At first, Qingming was just the name of a solar term. The reason why it became a festival to commemorate ancestors was related to the Cold Food Festival.

Because Tomb-Sweeping Day is close to the Cold Food Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day gradually replaced the Cold Food Festival. The original customs and activities of the Cold Food Festival, such as grave-sweeping, cold food, swinging and outing, were also taken over by Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Children are happiest when they go out to worship their ancestors.

Here is mainly about cold food. The so-called cold food, people don't make a fire to cook, but only eat cold food. In the north, people only eat cold food prepared in advance, such as jujube cakes and wheat cakes. In the south, there are mostly green balls and glutinous rice and sugar lotus roots. Every time I go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, people put wicker in a circle and put wicker branches in front of the house to show their memory.

Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, we will take our children back to their hometown to worship their ancestors and cultivate their gratitude from an early age. This year, due to the special period of the epidemic, in response to the prevention and control requirements of the leaders of the autonomous region, we did not participate in the gathering activities and let the children participate in online worship activities.

The meaning of solar terms

Tomb-Sweeping Day gas point: Dou refers to B; The solar calendar is15; Gregorian calendar April 4-6. The "Twenty-four solar terms" were originally determined by the direction of the top of the bucket handle of the Big Dipper. The bucket handle starts from the "female" position and then rotates clockwise. When bucket handle points to the "second position", it is the spirit of Qingming.

From the Han Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty, the solar terms were divided by the "average time method", and the period from winter solstice to winter solstice of the following year was divided into 24 segments (each segment was 15 days), with winter solstice as the starting point of the "24 solar terms"; Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi is counted from the winter, that is, the first 105 day after winter.

The current "twenty-four solar terms" come from the "fixed air method" concluded more than 300 years ago (used since 1645), which is determined according to the position of the sun on the ecliptic. When the solar calendar reaches 15, it is the node of Tomb-Sweeping Day.

"Huainanzi Astronomical Training": "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to B, then the Qingming wind will arrive"; The "Qingming wind" in the article is a refreshing and clear wind. At the age of 100, I asked, "When everything grows, it is pure and bright, so it is called Qingming." Almanac: "Fifteen days after the vernal equinox.

Fighting refers to ding, which means Qingming, everything is clean and bright, and everything is clean and bright when it is covered, hence the name. "

Qingming is a solar term that reflects the phenological changes in nature. At this time, the sun is shining, plants are sprouting, the air is fresh, everything is alive, and nature presents a vibrant scene.

By Qingming, the climate in the south is fresh and warm, and the earth presents a quiet image of spring; In the northern region, the snow began to fall, and gradually entered the sunny spring.

Introduction to the Origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day 3 Stories and Legends

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, went into exile to escape persecution. On the way to exile, he was tired and hungry in a deserted place and couldn't stand up anymore.

I searched for it for a long time, but I couldn't find anything to eat. When everyone was in a hurry, I pushed the minister to a quiet place, cut a piece of meat from his thigh and cooked a bowl of broth for the son to drink. Zhong Er gradually recovered his spirit. Zhong Er shed tears when he found that the meat was cut off by mesons pushing his legs.

Nineteen years later, Zhong Er became the monarch, that is, the historical Jin Wengong. After he ascended the throne, Wen Gong rewarded the heroes who accompanied him in exile at first, but forgot to push the meson. Many people complained about meson push and advised him to admire it. However, mesons despise those who strive for merit the most.

He packed his bags and quietly went to Mianshan with his mother. Hearing this, Jin Wengong was ashamed and personally took someone to ask Jiexiu, but Jiexiu had left home for Mianshan.

Mianshan Mountain is high and dangerous, with dense trees. It's hard to find two people. Someone offered a plan to burn Mianshan from three sides and force a meson to push out. The fire burned all over Mianshan, but there was no trace of meson push. After the fire was put out, it was found that Jiezitui had sat under an old willow tree with his old mother on his back and died.

Jin Wengong cried. When I was buried, I found a bloody book in a tree hole, which said, "May my master be clear forever." In order to commemorate meson push, Jin Wengong ordered that this day be designated as "Cold Food Festival". The following year, Jin Wengong led ministers to climb mountains to pay homage. He found that the old willow was dead and resurrected, so he gave it the title of "Qingming Willow" and told the world, so he named the day after the Cold Food Festival "Tomb-Sweeping Day".

In the literature records, meson tui did exist, but in the records of historical books such as Zuo Zhuan and Historical Records, there was no plot that meson tui was burned to death. Moreover, the Cold Food Festival originated from the memorial meson push, which was first recorded in the early Han Dynasty (see Huan Tan's new theory).

Many scholars believe that this is because later generations will explain the Cold Food Festival. According to textual research, the origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day has nothing to do with meson deduction. As a Spring Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day was determined long before the Zhou Dynasty.

China has a vast territory, and there were different customs between the north and the south in the pre-Qin period. The literature mainly records the northern customs. The Tang Dynasty was a period when the custom of burial sacrifices in different places merged, and then the custom of burial sacrifices in Tomb-Sweeping Day gradually appeared in the literature.

In the development and evolution of history, most traditional festivals are regarded as "origin" by a legend attached to them. However, according to the actual investigation, these sayings were far later than the birth of festivals and were constructed by later generations.

Since the cold food custom of the Cold Food Festival was transplanted to Tomb-Sweeping Day, some places in northern China still retain the habit of eating cold food in Tomb-Sweeping Day. In Shandong, Jimo eats eggs and cool cakes, while Laiyang, Zhaoyuan and Long Island eat eggs and cool sorghum rice. It is said that if not, there will be hail.

Taian eats cold pancakes and rolls bitter vegetables. It is said that his eyes are bright. Jinzhong area still retains the habit of banning fire the day before Qingming. In many places, after the sacrificial ceremony is completed, food will be sacrificed. People in southern Shanxi used to steam steamed bread with white flour, with walnuts, dates and beans in the middle.

The records of folk cold food customs almost suddenly appeared in the documents of the Eastern Han Dynasty, mainly concentrated in Shanxi. Even in the Tang and Song Dynasties, when the custom of cold food was quite popular, its spread did not come from the north.

The Jin Dynasty's "Zhong Ye Ji" first talked about the special food in cold food: "On the day of cold food, you can cook preserved cheese, boiled japonica rice and wheat as cheese, and boiled apricot red as porridge." Until the Tang and Song Dynasties, people were still eating this kind of cold coix seed porridge.

In some places in the south of China, Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of eating reunion cakes, which are also called Qingming Cake, Flour Cake, Cike Cake, Qingming Ba, Ai Ye Ba, Ai Yi, Qingming Fruit, Bobo Cake, Qingming Cake and Ai Ye Cake.

In the hometown of overseas Chinese in southern Fujian, every time we go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, we will make some cakes, cakes and rice noodles for our families to eat before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to the old custom in Shanghai, steamed cakes for sacrifice should be put on wicker and dried and stored. When they come in the long summer, they will be fried and given to the children. It is said that eating it in summer won't make you sick.

In Huzhou, Zhejiang, every family in Tomb-Sweeping Day makes zongzi, which can be used as a grave-sweeping sacrifice or as dry food for hiking. As the saying goes: "Qingming Zongzi is real." Before and after Qingming, snails were fat and strong. Eating lotus root is to wish silkworm babies long and good silk. Eating sprouted beans is a lottery to win "money". Eating fresh vegetables like Malantou means taking the word "green" to match the "green" of "Qingming".