What do you mean, cold food day? What festival?

The Cold Food Festival, also known as "No Smoking Festival", "Cooked Food Festival" and "Cold Food Festival" (105 after the winter solstice, that is, one or two days before Tomb-Sweeping Day), is said to have originated from the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. On this day, people are forbidden to make fires and can only eat prepared cooked food and cold food, hence the name.

There are two versions of the origin of this custom:

One saying is to commemorate Jiexiu, the courtier of Duke Xiang of Jin. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, went to other countries, and Jie Zhitui made great contributions to escorting his country. It is said that he once cut off the meat from his thigh to satisfy Zhong Er's hunger. Zhong Er returned to the throne and became the monarch, namely Jin Wengong. At this time, Jie Zhitui lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan (now Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). Jin Wengong sent someone to invite him, but he refused to come out in the mountains. So Jin Wengong ordered the mountain to be burned and tried to push Jiezhi out. Unexpectedly, Jiezhi didn't want to go out of the mountain and was burned to death with his mother. Jin Wengong was very sad, so he buried Jiezhi in Mianshan, built a temple and renamed Mianshan Jieshan. In order to commemorate Jiexiu, Jin Wengong ordered Jiexiu to be burned to death as a cold food festival. Since then, it is forbidden to make a fire and eat cold meals every year in order to commemorate it.

Another view is that the Cold Food Festival originated from the old system of banning fire in Zhou Dynasty. At that time, there was a habit to change the fire every season. Before the fire in late spring, people were warned not to make a fire and eat cold food.

In the old Cold Food Festival, porridge was the main food. According to the Chronicle of Jingchu's Age, "Last winter festival, one hundred and fifty day, it was windy and even rainy, which was called cold food. No fire for three days, make glutinous rice porridge. " In addition, there is "Peach Blossom Porridge", which is the food of Han people's Cold Food Festival in Tang Dynasty and is popular in Luoyang, Henan Province. "Guangfang Qunpu" said: During the Cold Food Festival, local people picked fresh peach blossoms and cooked porridge with good rice, which was delicious and nutritious. This custom remained popular until the late Ming Dynasty. As soon as the Peach Blossom Fan was published in the Qing Dynasty, there was such a lyric: "On March 3, Liulang arrived and joined hands to build the building, and the peach blossom porridge was full."

In addition, there is "green rice". Vegetarian rice, also known as "black rice", is mainly for nourishing the body and offering sacrifices to ancestors. It is said that it was created by Taoism. In Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica, there is such a record: "This meal is the way for the gods to eat. Today, Buddhists have made offerings to the Buddha for more than April 8." In the 14th year of Jiajing, the emperor thought his name was indecent, so he gave a banquet to Guan Bai at the meridian gate instead.

There is also a famous dish in the Han Dynasty called "Mackerel in Wuhou". In the Tang Dynasty, Han You wrote a poem "Cold Food": "The spring city is full of flowers, and the east wind is cold and willows are oblique. At dusk, candles were passed in the Han Palace, and light smoke was scattered into the Hall of the Five Emperors. " These five Hou are Han Chengdi's uncles Wang Tan, Wang Gen, Wang Li, Wang Shang and Wang Feng. Miscellanies of Xijing said that these five people were not harmonious with each other, and their guests were not allowed to communicate with each other. There is only one person named Lou Hu, who is very talkative. Wuhou people liked him very much and gave him novel food in succession. Louhu mixed the food given to him by Wuhou, and the result was a rare delicacy. People call it "Wuhou mackerel". In fact, this so-called "mackerel" is just a hodgepodge of fish and meat. Because it is made of delicious food, it is naturally very delicious.

Nowadays, most of the foods related to the Cold Food Festival have been lost. However, if someone studies it carefully, there may be unexpected gains! (still)