When Tomb-Sweeping Day's composition is over, it's best to kneel down.

When it comes to Tomb-Sweeping Day, people with a little knowledge of history will associate it with the historical figure meson tui. According to historical records, in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2,000 years ago, Zhong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled and lived a hard life. Follow his meson and cut a piece of meat from his leg to satisfy his hunger. Later, Zhong Er returned to the State of Jin and became a monarch (that is, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period). He rewarded all his followers who followed him into exile, but meson refused to accept the reward. He took his mother to live in seclusion in Mianshan and refused to come out. Jin Wengong was at his wit's end, so he had to let Yamakaji go. He thought that meson tui would be filial to his mother and would definitely come out with her. Who knows this torch meson mother and son burned to death. In order to commemorate Jie Zitui, Jin Wengong ordered that no fire should be lit on this day every year, and every household can only eat cold food, which is the origin of the Cold Food Festival.

Cold Food Festival is the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. The ancients often extended the activities of the Cold Food Festival to Qingming. Over time, people combine cold food with Qingming. Now Tomb-Sweeping Day has replaced the Cold Food Festival, and the custom of worshipping Jietui has become the custom of sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

There is another saying:

The ancients had the custom of welcoming the spring, and the weather in early March of the lunar calendar happened to be spring, which was suitable for people to carry out various activities, including outings and even "wild intercourse", so the most important festival in spring was also at this time. In early Tomb-Sweeping Day, there was no function of offering sacrifices to sweep, and the activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day were the same as other festivals in early March.

Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms. According to the solar calendar, it is not a festival in itself. Qingming coincides with Shangsi Festival and Cold Food Festival in ancient spring at the beginning of March of the lunar calendar. As time goes by, Qingming has become a part of the Spring Festival.

Today, Shangsi Festival has disappeared from the festival spectrum of China, but it was once one of the most important festivals in a year. Before the Han dynasty, it was designated as the fourth day of March, and later it was designated as the third day of the third lunar month. According to records, Shangsi Festival was popular in the Spring and Autumn Period. The Analects of Confucius said that "those who had taken spring clothes in late spring, with five or six champions and six or seven boys, bathed in seven explanations, danced in the wind and went home with songs" was the situation at that time.

At the earliest time, people would go for an outing on Shangsi Festival and take a bath by the river. In addition, this day also has the function of "exorcism", which was called "bath removal" by the ancients. In ancient times, the function of festivals was to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, such as "climbing mountains on the Double Ninth Festival". The actual reason is to avoid the plague at the foot of the mountain, and so is the "bath withdrawal". Zhu explained that the actual reason is that the river is too cold in winter and the water temperature is just right in early March, so people are eager to take their first bath after winter.

Shangsi Festival also has the function of courtship and mating. It was also during this period that the Book of Songs said that "Wei's wife and daughter, together, made fun of each other and gave peony". This tradition has always influenced the Tang and Song Dynasties, and Du Fu's "The Second Way" has the sentence "On March 3rd, the sky was clear, and many beautiful people took the Chang 'an waterfront". However, as the society became more and more civilized, the theme of sexual intercourse was replaced by begging for children, and Shangsi Festival formed the custom of worshipping and lying in the temple and women begging for children by the river.

During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the literati also had the custom of "March 3rd", and "meandering water and flowing" was a popular leisure way at that time, which was read in Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Pavilion.

As for the custom of ancestor worship in Tomb-Sweeping Day, there is a saying that it is related to the Cold Food Festival in March of the lunar calendar. The legend of the Cold Food Festival was founded by Jin Wengong to commemorate the minister of the Spring and Autumn Period. Zhu believes that this is actually a saying that future generations will attach themselves to it, just like the Dragon Boat Festival and Qu Yuan. The origin of the Cold Food Festival is related to the difficulty in getting fire in ancient times. Once the fire is obtained, it will be preserved for a long time. Today, some ethnic minority areas still keep the custom of setting fire pits in their houses. The Cold Food Festival is an annual "fire change" day. At that time, people had to change new kindling, so they had to eat cold food. Therefore, the Cold Food Festival itself has nothing to do with offering sacrifices to sweep graves. Agree 0| Comment