When was the Cold Food Festival renamed Tomb-Sweeping Day?

Speaking of "Cold Food Festival", perhaps some people who lack the knowledge of traditional festivals in China will find it strange; However, even foreigners know that when it comes to "Tomb-Sweeping Day", it is a day for China people to worship their ancestors. In fact, in ancient China, these two festivals were integrated; Today, however, people know little about other contents of the Cold Food Festival culture, even the name of the Cold Food Festival itself, except that Tomb-Sweeping Day will worship his ancestors and climb mountains for an outing on this day. The Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day originated in Jin Wengong to commemorate the sage Jiexiu who made great contributions, and are one of the most influential ancient traditional festivals in China.

The Cold Food Festival has attracted wide attention of scholars at home and abroad for its unique cold food customs. In the warm and cold spring, people will celebrate the Cold Food Festival when they need hot food. What makes people choose a lifestyle that forbids fire and gives birth to cold? The Cold Food Festival is an ancient custom, and the time is 105 days after winter, so the Cold Food Festival is also called "Hundred Five Days Festival". This custom has a history of more than 2,600 years, in memory of Jin Wengong's loyal minister Jietui in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the custom of cold food was very popular in Jiexiu and Taiyuan, not far from Mianshan. The story of cold food culture and meson push was deeply rooted in people's hearts and passed down from generation to generation.

In 19, meson tui went into exile with Zhong Er, the son of Jin Dynasty, and once cut off his shares to seize the throne. After Zhong Er returned to Jin, he was made a monarch (namely, Jin Wengong) and was rewarded with meritorious service, so meson pushed back to his hometown in Xiaxian. In the early spring of 635 BC, meson pushed his mother to take refuge in her grandmother's house in Xiaosongqu Village, Jiexiu (Dingyang County). After learning about this, he asked his neighbors to take Zhang to Jiexiu to find him. Jiezi refused to raise her, and hid her old mother in Mianshan cave, taking straw clothes and cold food. Jin Wengong forced the meson to push out the mountain to assist the government, led the ministers to Ma Quan under the top of the Buddha, sent people to climb the mountain, and called in every way, but the meson could not push out the mountain and met them in the forest; At this time, a minister offered a plan to Jin Wengong, saying, "Jiezitui is a dutiful son. If he stays on three sides, he will definitely come out with his mother on his back. " As a result, treacherous court officials Gu Yan and Zhao Shuai raised fires all around, just like the wind in spring is very strong and the fire is getting stronger and stronger. The fire lasted for three days and nights, which prevented meson from taking his mother out of the mountain. Jin Wengong sent ministers to climb the mountain again, and someone found half a broken straw mat in the cave where the forest was on fire. Jin Wengong took the straw mat and looked at it carefully. It reads: "I will be loyal to you when I cut meat. May your master Tomb-Sweeping Day be happy;" I have a clear conscience in Jiuquan and I am diligent and honest. " After reading it, Jin Wengong was very sad and regretted it. Facing the burning forest smoke, he couldn't help moaning. The ministers rushed to follow suit, and the wailing resounded through Mianshan forest (Xiegongling has the name of weeping slope); In memory of this sage, Mianshan was named Jiexiutian and Dingyang County was renamed Jiexiu County. And the day of burning mountains was designated as the "Cold Food Festival", and it was ordered to ban cooking with fire for three days and only eat cold food. This is the first theory about the origin of cold food in history, and it has also become a unique cultural heritage of Mianshan in Jiexiu.

On the second day of the second year's Cold Food Festival, Jin Wengong led ministers to climb Mianshan to pay homage, and saw the old willow trees burned in the valley of burning forest come back from the dead, and thousands of green branches danced with the wind; He is a natural person, thinking of meson's hope when he pushed shares to serve the king: "I don't ask for any reward, just ask you to be a wise king!" " "There are mesons written in the burning forest cave found on the broken straw mat will; They named Laoliu "Qingming Willow" to express their yearning for Jietui, and named this memorial day (after the first cold food in beginning of winter 106) "Tomb-Sweeping Day". Later, he led Sui to climb Mianshan from Xiamaquan to mourn Jiezitui.

What is Qingming? It can be interpreted as the meaning that the sky is high and the clouds are light. As the name of solar terms, the word "Qingming" appeared as early as the pre-Qin classics. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, our people determined four solar terms by measuring the shadow of the sun: vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumn equinox and winter solstice. During the Qin and Han Dynasties in 200 BC, it was established as twenty-four solar terms, including Tomb-Sweeping Day Qi. This newly added lunar solar term is the beginning of March in Yangchun (around April 5 in Gregorian calendar). At this time, the severe winter has passed and the spring of Vientiane has arrived. Beautiful spring, pink and green, budding vegetation and vitality everywhere, showing a clear scene, so people call this solar term Tomb-Sweeping Day. So how did Tomb-Sweeping Day become the spirit of Tomb-Sweeping Day again? Judging from the above discussion, there is Tomb-Sweeping Day and then Tomb-Sweeping Day; Because this lunar solar term happens to be in Tomb-Sweeping Day (the day after the Cold Food Festival) on the first115th day in the future, among the 24 solar terms determined in Qin and Han Dynasties, this solar term is called Qingming. Therefore, Tomb-Sweeping Day's explanation has two meanings. One refers to solar terms, which is the symbol of seasonal time series; The second refers to festivals, including customs, celebrations and corresponding ceremonies and customs.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the best season for spring outing, commonly known as the Youth Day. Folk custom is to sweep graves on the second day, so it is also called the festival of missing relatives and offering sacrifices, commonly known as Ghost Festival and Ghost Festival. The most prominent custom is to sweep graves to worship ancestors. Besides sweeping graves, the most popular things in Tomb-Sweeping Day are planting trees and inserting willows, so Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called the willow inserting festival. In some places, people still have the opportunity to climb mountains to worship their ancestors on the Double Ninth Festival in 1999. Because hiking on the Double Ninth Festival is much more than Qingming Festival, there is a saying that it is small in March and big in September. Because these two festivals are connected, it is difficult to distinguish them strictly from the sacrificial customs, so many places later merged cold food and Qingming into one festival. About the Tang Dynasty, cold food and Tomb-Sweeping Day became one, and Qingming became a part of the Cold Food Festival, which means Qingming is only an important day of the Cold Food Festival. Going to the grave to worship ancestors is not limited to the first day of cold food Qingming, and you can sweep the grave within ten days. Because the cold food festival requires no fire, it is also called the no-smoking festival and the cold food festival. Therefore, people choose to sweep graves and burn paper money in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which makes Qingming's position in the Cold Food Festival more important. In the later generations, the custom of forbidding fire and cold food became more and more indifferent because of the little attention paid to the memorial object and people's real life, thoughts and feelings, while Qingming sweeping graves to worship ancestors is still popular because it conforms to the custom of the people. After the Yuan Dynasty, the custom of cold food gradually faded, so people called it Tomb-Sweeping Day, so Tomb-Sweeping Day was the natural development of the Cold Food Festival. In the course of its development, Tomb-Sweeping Day has integrated the contents of the last festival (the third day of the third lunar month), and since the Ming Dynasty, it has become more than one traditional folk festival featuring grave sweeping, ancestor worship, outing and swinging. Now, when people are in Tomb-Sweeping Day, they go to sweep graves and repair tombs to commemorate emperors, heroes, martyrs, historical celebrities and their ancestors, including not only the memory of "innocent" ministers and "considerate" figures Luan Jietui; And remind us to be naive and understand. Speaking of Mianshan today, anyone who knows a little about history will know that it is the hermitage of mesons, the birthplace of cold food Tomb-Sweeping Day and the birthplace of filial piety culture.

Peijie Town in Xia County is the hometown of Jiexiu. There is a Jietui tomb in the town east, and there are two monuments beside it. One was built in the second year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1724). The tombstone reads "Jiezi pushes Zujin Jiezi to push the tomb" and reads "Qin Ershi moved and buried here since Jiexiu, and the family lived alone". The other is the monument of "Key Cultural Relics Protection Signs" erected by Xia County People's Committee in June 1962 65438+ 10/7. The full text is "pushing the bone tomb after the Jin Dynasty". Jietui, the minister of Jin State in Zhou Dynasty, and Pei in Xia County lived in seclusion in Jiexiu County, Mianshan, because they were not paid for their services. Later, he was found by Jin Wengong, burned the mountain and died. Qin Ershi moved away and was buried here. " These two monuments have explained clearly where the meson came from, where he died, and where Mianshan moved and buried his body. It is inconclusive to establish a monument as evidence. Therefore, it is an indisputable historical fact that meson tui was born in Xiaxian, lived in seclusion in Jiexiu, died in Mianshan and moved to his hometown-cold food Tomb-Sweeping Day originated in Mianshan, Jiexiu. Mianshan's cultural heritage is meson culture (cold food and filial piety culture). Therefore, Mianshan is recognized as the place where mesons push their mothers back, the place where heroes live, the birthplace of cold food culture and the magical holy land of Lingshan.