Why do we fly kites on Qingming Festival? What is the source?

Flying kites on Qingming is a universally popular custom. In ancient times, kites have a very long history. Kite flying, originated from ancient witchcraft, is not only a kind of amusement activity, but also to pray for letting go of bad luck and eliminating disasters.

Many people fly kites during the Qingming Festival and write down the calamities and diseases they know on the kite, then cut the kite string when the kite rises into the sky and let it drift away with the wind, hoping to take away all the bad luck and bring good luck.

The Qingming Festival carries a rich cultural connotation in its historical development, and there are differences in the content or details of the customs in different parts of the country due to geographical differences, and the festivals in different parts of the country are not the same, but sweeping tombs and sacrificing to the ancestors, and trekking on the outskirts of the countryside is *** with the basic rituals and customs of the theme. Every Qingming Festival, people, no matter where they are, will return to their hometowns to participate in ancestral activities, remembering their ancestors.

The culture of Qingming rituals and customs fully embodies the humanistic spirit of the Chinese nation of honoring ancestors and pursuing the distant past with caution. In the ancestor worship rituals to be careful to catch up with the distant, in the trekking picnic to enjoy the fun of spring, cultural heritage and physical and mental adjustment is an important function of the Qingming ritual culture.

Story:

Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Prince of Jin, Chong Er, went into exile to escape persecution, and on the way to exile, in an uninhabited place, he was so tired and hungry that he couldn't stand up any more.

The ministers searched for half a day and could not find anything to eat. When everyone was very anxious, the minister Jie Zi Tui went to a secluded place, cut off a piece of meat from his own thigh, and cooked a bowl of broth for the duke to drink, which gradually restored the spirit of Chong Er, who wept when he realized that the meat had been cut off by Jie Zi Tui's own leg.

Nineteen years later, Chong Er became the king of the country, the historical Duke Wen of Jin. He rewarded all the ministers who had accompanied him into exile, but forgot about Jie Zi push. Many people were angry with Jie Zi Tui and urged him to face the king to ask for rewards, but Jie Zi Tui despised those who competed for rewards. He packed his clothes and went to Mianshan Mountain with his mother to live in seclusion. When Duke Wen of Jin heard about this, he was so ashamed that he went to invite Jie Zi push in person, but Jie Zi push had already left his home and went to Mian Mountain.

Mianshan Mountain is high and dangerous, dense trees, it is not easy to find two people, some people have a plan, from three sides of the fire Mianshan, forcing out the jiezi push. The fire burned all over the Mianshan Mountain, but did not see the figure of介子推, the fire went out, people realized that the back of his mother介子推 has been sitting under an old willow tree died. The Duke of Jin wept y at the sight.

The next year, the Duke of Jin led his ministers to climb the mountain to pay tribute to the old willow tree, and found that the old willow tree came back to life, so he gave the old willow tree as the "Qingming Willow", and informed the world, and then the day after the Cold Food Festival was designated as the "Qingming Festival".