What are the customs of the cold food festival?

The most important custom of the Cold Food Festival is that all families are forbidden to make fire and eat cold food on that day, and some places also have the custom of visiting graves, trekking, and planting willows on the Cold Food Festival.

Cold Food Festival

Cold Food Festival: 105 days after the winter solstice in the summer calendar, one or two days before the Qingming Festival. It is the first day of the festival, the ban on fireworks, only eat cold food. And in the development of the later generations gradually increased sweeping, trekking, swing, cuju, pulling hooks, cockfighting and other customs, cold food festival before and after the extension of more than 2,000 years, was known as China's first folk festival day. Cold Food Festival is the only traditional Chinese festival named after a food custom.

The origin of the Cold Food Festival, according to historical records: during the Spring and Autumn Period, the Prince of Jin, Chong Er, was exiled from his country for 19 years to avoid trouble, and his minister, Jie Zi Tui, always followed him around and never abandoned him; he even cut off the shares of the king. Chong Er tried his best to rule and became a famous ruler "Duke Wen of Jin". However, Jie Zi Pui did not want to seek profit and fortune, he and his mother retired to Mianshan Mountain. In order to force him to come out of the mountain to meet with him, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to set the mountain on fire, but Jie Zi Pui was determined not to come out of the mountain, and was eventually burned to death by the fire. Duke Wen of Jin remembered the loyalty of the will of the minister, buried in Mianshan, repair the temple, and ordered in the day of the death of Jie Zi push fire and cold food, in order to send condolences, which is the origin of the "Cold Food Festival".

Before the Tang Ruowang calendar reform in the early Qing Dynasty, the Qingming Festival was set two days after the Cold Food Festival; after the Tang reform, the Cold Food Festival was set one day before the Qingming Festival. In modern times, the twenty-four solar terms have been adopted from Tang's calendar, so the Cold Food Festival falls one day before the Qingming Festival.

From the Spring and Autumn Period to the present, the Cold Food Festival has a history of more than 2,600 years. Shanxi, China, where the story takes place, has designated the Cold Food Festival as the day before the Qingming Festival, and the customs of eating cold food, offering sacrifices, and trekking on the green on this day have been passed down and accepted throughout the country. With the passage of time, the Cold Food Festival has quietly merged into the Qingming Festival, and the feudal idea of foolish loyalty represented by Jie Zi Tui has also sunk into the river of history, but the people's praise for loyalty, honesty, and political clarity represented by the Cold Food has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

Customs

(1) Banning fire

The Cold Food Festival was also known as the "No Smoking Festival" in ancient times, when families were forbidden to make fires and ate cold food. But because of the people of the country after compassionate feelings of perseverance, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the North and South Dynasties repeatedly banned repeatedly Xing, the Tang Dynasty, the Royal recognition and participation. Su Shi's "looking south of the river, Chaorantai made" in the "and will be the new fire to try new tea," that is, after the cold food poets boil tea behavior. Shanxi folk ban fire cold food custom for one day, only a few places are still accustomed to ban fire for three days.

(2) Ancestor worship

Tomb-sweeping and ancestor worship on the cold food festival was regarded as a "wild festival" in the North and South Dynasties and before the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, it was compiled into the Kaiyuan Rites, "Volume 87 - Worship and Sweeping by Kings and Dukes (with Worship and Sweeping on the Day of Cold Snacks)", and became one of the auspicious rituals recognized and advocated by the officials. Later on, it evolved into the royal ceremony for the mausoleum, the official ceremony for the Confucius temple and the sages, and the people's ceremony for the graves. When a family or a clan together to the ancestors' graves, to pay homage, add soil, hanging paper money, and then will be pushed Yan, snake pan rabbit scattered on the top of the graves roll down, with willow branches or wart needle threaded, placed in the room in a high place, intended to stain the ancestor's virtue and zephyr.

(3) food and drink

Cold food food, including cold food porridge, cold food noodles, cold food syrup, green rice and molasses, etc.; cold food offerings are noodles Yan, Snake Plate rabbit, jujube cake, fine barley, the God of the water, etc.; beverages, spring wine, new tea, spring water and so on, dozens of kinds of more. Most of them have profound meanings, such as the sacrificial food snake pan rabbit, commonly known as "snake pan rabbit, must be rich," said, meaning to look forward to the people rich and strong; Zi push Yan, to take the jiexiu dialect "Niannian" not forgetting the jie push the high wind and bright integrity ... ... ....

Jinnan area folk used to eat cold noodles, cold noodles, cold cake and so on. Jinbei region used to fry Qi (that is, the cake or white flour steamed and cut into dice-sized square, dried in the sun with the soil fried yellow) as a cold day of food. Some mountainous areas on this day the whole family to eat fried noodles (that is, grains and cereals fried, mixed with various types of dried fruit preserved, ground into noodles).

Cold Food Festival, folklore to steam cold swallow to celebrate, with flour pinched into a thumb in general big swallow, songbirds and beasts, fruits, flowers and so on, after steaming coloring, inserted in the jujube tree on top of the thorns, decorating the interior, but also as a gift to send people.

(4) Willow

Willow for the Cold Food Festival symbols of the original nostalgia for the pursuit of political clarity. As early as in the North and South Dynasties, "Jingchu chronicle" on the "Jianghuai cold food day family folding willow plug door" record, Anhui, Suzhou and other places are also prevalent wear mustard flowers, wheat leaves to replace willow branches. According to historical records around: "inserted willow in the grave", "folded willow branches labeled in the household", "inserted in the eaves of the willow bedding between the stove", "also worn by the head or tied sash "," bottle storage in the Buddha God "," door are inserted willow ", so the folk have" Qingming (cold food) do not wear willow, red face into white head "said.

(5) Treading Green

It is also called spring trekking, which flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. Song - Li Zhiyan "East Valley seen" contained: "worship sweeping things, and then with brothers, wives, relatives, the deed of friendship to enjoy the tour, as happy as possible and return". The Ming Dynasty "Emperor Scenery" recorded the scene of the Beijing effect of trekking as: "the year (cold food) Qingming Day, all people trekking, the carriage, the rider, the walker, the tourists to tens of thousands of people." It can be said to be the most prosperous.

(6) Autumn Swing

Autumn Swing was originally an amusement program for women at the court during the cold food festival in ancient times. Fifth Wang Renyu "Kaiyuan Tianbao remains" in the "Tianbao Palace to the Cold Food Festival even erected swing, so that the concubines play and laugh as a feast. The emperor called for the play of the half-century, the people in the city and thus called", the Song dynasty chancellor Wen Yanbo poem "cold food day through the Dragon Gate", the poem describes as "the bridge willow hanging green line, Lin Li swing hanging colorful rope."

(7) Cuju ball

Prevalent in the Tang, Song "Documentation", "Cuju ball, cover began in Tang. Plant two bamboo, several zhang high, network on the net, for the door to the degree of the ball, ball workers divided into left and right pals, to angle wins and losses." History: Emperor Dezong of Tang, Emperor Xianzong, Emperor Mu, Emperor Jingzong like cuju ball, "state capitals turtle" in: "Emperor Dezong of Tang Zhenyuan 12 years in February, the cold food festival Royal Ki Temple of the East Pavilion, the view of the military ministers and relatives of the children will be the ball, and also give the banquet of ministers of the feast food." The Song Dynasty also has the "Taizu Cuju Figure".

(8) poetry

Cold Food Festival, the literati or homesickness of relatives, or scenes, especially more emotions, inspiration, poetry, chanting a lot. According to research, only the "Tang Poetry" has Tang Xuanzong, Zhang said, Du Fu, Han Yu, Liu Zongyuan and other celebrities more than 300 poems, Song, Jin and Yuan lyrics and songs have more than a hundred, becoming a Chinese poetry art in a strange flower.

(9) clean bowel

Cold food festival to the wild collection of wild vegetables, not only exercise, but also to meet the human body must, two birds with one stone. Finally, there is also the issue of spiritual regulation in spring health care. Women hurt spring, during the cold food festival out to take a walk, enjoy the spring trekking, can prevent mental illness. Although men do not hurt the spring, but in the spring liver qi is too much, easy to mental disorders, remember the ancestors, send condolences, play the role of grief overcome anger. It is quite beneficial to the regulation of the liver. After five thousand years of cultural nourishment, the cold food and Qingming into one, become a festival to remember the deceased, inspire the living.