Essay about Qingming Festival

The Qingming Festival is a traditional folk festival in China, as early as the Tang Dynasty, Qingming has become a legal holiday. Our people have the traditional virtue of "thinking of the source of water". According to the "Dream sorghum record" records: in ancient times, every Qingming Festival this day, no matter the dignitaries, or ordinary people, will go to the grave, sweep the tomb, ancestor worship, to express the respect and remembrance of ancestors. Tomb-sweeping is the most important activity on this day. However, to this day, in some parts of China, the custom of eating cold rice on Qingming Festival is still preserved. Legend has it that during the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Xian of Jin, the monarch of the State of Jin, had a young and beautiful concubine, Li Ji. In order for her son Xi Qi to inherit the throne in the future, she killed the crown prince Shen Sheng with a poisonous plan. Shen Sheng's younger brother, Chong Er, fled Jin to escape Li Ji's persecution, and was humiliated along the way. Once, when Chong Er fainted from hunger, his minister, Jie Zi Pui, cut off a piece of meat from his own leg, cooked it over a fire and offered it to Chong Er to eat. Thus, after 19 years of wandering and hardships, they finally returned to the state of Jin, and Chong Er became the famous Duke Wen of Jin in history. When Duke Wen of Jin became the king of the state, he rewarded those ministers who went into exile with him. Perhaps he was careless, but he forgot about Jie Zi Tui. When someone mentioned this matter later, Duke Wen of Jin suddenly remembered it and was so disturbed that he immediately sent someone to invite Jie Zi Tui. But after a few trips, Jie Zi Tui did not come, Duke Wen of Jin had to go in person to invite. But when he came to Jie Zi Tui's house, he saw that the door was locked, and when he asked the neighbors, they knew that Jie Zi Tui had already hid in Mianshan Mountain with his old mother on his back. So, Duke Wen of Jin asked his soldiers to go up the mountain to look for Jie Zi Tui, but they couldn't find him anywhere. At this time, someone came up with a bad idea: Why don't we just set fire to the mountain? When the fire started, Jie Zi Tui would come out by himself. So, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to burn the mountain. Who did not expect, the fire burned for three days and three nights, did not see the mesotronic push out. When the fire was extinguished, people went up the mountain again to look for him, and found that Jie Zi Tui and his mother had died holding a big charred willow tree. In order to commemorate the death of Jie Zi Tui, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to rename Mianshan Mountain as "Jie Shan", and designated the day of the fire as the "Cold Food Festival", informing the whole country that every year on this day, we should prohibit fireworks and only eat cold food. The next year, the Duke of Jin and his ministers came to Jie Shan to pay tribute to Jie Zi Tui, and found that the burnt willow tree had come back to life. Duke Wen of Jin gave the willow tree the name "Qingming Willow" and designated the day as the Qingming Festival. In fact, "Qingming" in our country is a day with two layers of meaning, it is both a festival and a festival. Folk have this proverb: "before and after the Qingming, planting melon point bean", "Qingming rain closely linked, soak seed spring plowing do not delay". That is to say, as soon as the Qingming spring plowing and sowing will begin. The cold food on the Qingming festival day is ushered in by the seeding of the Qingming festival. Answer: Cold Rain Night TT - Assistant Level 2 4-6 11:31 The Origin and Legend of Qingming Festival The traditional Qingming Festival in China began around the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Qingming is the beginning of a very important festival, Qingming, the temperature rises, it is a good time for spring plowing and planting, so there is a "Qingming before and after, planting melons and beans". "Tree planting, no more than the Qingming" proverbs. Later, due to the Qingming and cold food days close, and cold food is the folk ban on fire sweeping days, gradually, cold food and Qingming on the merger of one, and cold food has become an alias of Qingming, but also become a custom for the Qingming Festival, Qingming day does not move fireworks, only eat cold food. On the cold food, there is such a legend: According to legend, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the consort of Duke Xian of Jin Li Ji in order to let his son Xi Qi successor, set up a poisonous plan to murder Prince Shen Sheng, Shen Sheng was forced to commit suicide. Shen Sheng's younger brother, Chong Er, went into exile to avoid the disaster. While in exile, Chong Er suffered a lot of humiliation. Most of the ministers who followed him went their own way one after another. There were only a few loyal men left who followed him all the way. One of them was called Jie Zi Tui (介子推). Once, Chong Er passed out from hunger. In order to save Chong Er, Jie Zi Pui cut off a piece of meat from his own leg, cooked it over a fire and gave it to Chong Er to eat. Nineteen years later, Chong Er returned to his country and became the ruler, Duke Wen of Jin, one of the famous Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. When Duke Wen of Jin came to power, he rewarded his subjects who had suffered with him, but he forgot about Jie Zi Tui. Some people complained for Jie Zi Tui in front of Duke Wen of Jin. Duke Wen of Jin suddenly remembered the old story, the heart of shame, and immediately sent to ask mesoteric push on the court to be rewarded by the official. However, after several trips, Jie Zi Tui did not come. Duke Wen of Jin had to go in person to invite. However, when Duke Wen came to Jie Zi Tui's house, he saw that the door was closed. Jie Zi Tui didn't want to see him, and had already carried his mother to hide in Mianshan Mountain (southeast of present-day Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province). The Duke of Jin then sent his imperial army up to Mianshan to search for him, but they did not find him. So, someone came up with an idea, saying that it would be better to set fire to the mountain, lighting fires on three sides and leaving one side behind, so that when the fire started, Jie Zi Tui would come out on his own. Duke Wen of Jin ordered the fire to burn the mountain, but the fire burned for three days and three nights, after the fire was extinguished, did not see Kai Zi push out. Up the mountain to see, jiezi push mother and son holding a big charred willow tree has died. Duke Wen of Jin looked at the body of the mesquite push to cry and worship for a while, and then buried the remains, and found that the mesquite push spine blocked a willow tree hole, the hole seems to have something. He took out a look, but it turned out to be a piece of lapel, on which was inscribed a poem in blood: "Cutting off my flesh to serve the king, but I hope that my lord will always be clear. I will never be seen as a ghost under the willow, but I am better than accompanying the king as an advisor. If you have me in your heart, you should always think about yourself when you remember me. I am not ashamed in the nine springs, and I will be diligent and clear in my administration. Duke Wen of Jin hid the bloody letter in his sleeve. Then he buried Jie Zi Tui and his mother under the charred willow tree. To commemorate Jie Zi Tui, Duke Wen of Jin ordered to change Mian Shan to "Jie Shan", built a shrine on the mountain, and designated the day he set fire to the mountain as the Cold Food Festival, telling the whole country that fireworks were forbidden on this day every year, and only cold food was eaten. When he left, he cut a piece of burnt willow wood and made a pair of wooden clogs in the palace, looking at them every day and sighing: "Woe is the foot." "It is said to be the origin of the ancient term of respect from subordinates to superiors or from peers to peers. The next year, the Duke of Jin led his ministers to pay homage on foot to the grave in plain clothes to express their condolences. When they arrived at the grave, they saw the old willow tree come back to life, with thousands of green branches dancing in the wind. Duke Wen of Jin looked at the resurrected old willow tree and saw it as if he had seen Jie Zi Tui. He went to it respectfully, pinched a branch and wove a circle on his head. After the cleaning, Duke Wen of Jin gave the name "Qingming Willow" to the resurrected old willow tree, and designated this day as the Qingming Festival. Afterwards, Duke Wen of Jin often put the book of blood on his side, as a motto to spur himself to rule. He was diligent and clear, and tried his best to govern the country well. After that, the people of Jin were able to live in peace and work happily, and they missed Jie Zi Tui very much. On the day of his death, people banned fireworks to commemorate him. Also with flour and jujube clay, kneaded into the swallow, with willow string up, inserted in the door, to summon his soul, this thing is called "the push of the swallow" (jiezitui also known as jiezhitui). Since then, the cold food and Qingming became the grand festivals of the people all over the country. Whenever cold food is served, people do not make fire to cook and only eat cold food. In the north, the people only eat pre-made cold food such as jujube cake, wheat cake, etc.; in the south, it is mostly green dumplings and glutinous rice candy root. Every Qingming, people weave willow into a circle to wear on the head, the willow branches inserted in front of the house, in order to show remembrance. One of the most important festivals in traditional Chinese customs is the Qingming Festival, which is celebrated in March and April when the spring is bright and the peaches are red and the willows are green. The Qingming Festival is now known as No Tomb Festival. It falls around April 5 according to the Lord's Day, and in the first half of March according to the lunar calendar. Ancient people divided the year into twenty-four seasons and used this calendar to sow and harvest. Qingming is one of the twenty-four seasons, which occurs fifteen days after the vernal equinox, and according to the "Hundred Questions about the Time of the Year," "Everything grows at this time, and it is all clean and clear. Therefore, it is called Qingming." Therefore, "Qingming" was originally the name of the festival, and later added the cold food ban on fire and no grave customs to form the Qingming Festival. Originally, the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival were two different festivals, but in the Tang Dynasty, the day for visiting and sweeping tombs was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The cold food festival is held one hundred and five days after the winter solstice, around the time of the Qingming Festival, so the Qingming Festival and the cold food festival were merged into one! The custom of mourning one's ancestors in front of a tomb or dike has a very early origin in China. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, great importance was attached to tombs. During the Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Meng Zi's book on the Qi people also mentions a disgraced Qi man who used to go to Dongguo's grave to beg for food and offerings to the grave, so the custom of dike the grave was very prevalent during the Warring States period. To the Tang Xuanzong, under the Shao set cold food dike tomb for the time of the "five rituals" one, so every Qingming Festival came, "the fields and roads, women all over, soaps and commissions beggars, all have to parents Qiu tomb." (Liu Zongyuan "and Xu Jingzhao book") tomb sweeping became an important social custom. And in the cold winter, and to ban the fire to eat cold food, for fear that some of the old and weak women and children can not withstand the cold, but also in order to prevent cold food and cold food to hurt the body, so it is set up a green, picnic, swinging, playing soccer, polo, willow, tug of war, cockfighting, and other outdoor activities, so that everyone out of the sun Tai Yang, activities, activities, and increase the resistance. Therefore, in addition to the Qingming Festival, in addition to ancestor sweeping, there are a variety of fitness activities in the field, so that the festival, in addition to the sentimental end of the prudent, but also a blend of the atmosphere of joy and enjoyment of the spring; both the parting of the tears of grief and sorrow, but also everywhere a fresh and bright and vivid scene. It is really a very characteristic and special festival. It is one of the twenty-four solar terms in China. Since the 24 solar terms objectively reflect the changes in temperature, rainfall and weather conditions throughout the year, the ancient working people used them to organize their agricultural activities. Huainanzi (淮南子). Tianwenxun" said, "Fifteen days after the vernal equinox, the bucket points to B, then the wind of Qingming arrives." According to the "time of the year and a hundred questions": "Everything grows at this time, are clean and clear. Therefore, it is called Qingming." Qingming, the temperature rises, rainfall increases, is a good time for spring plowing and planting. Therefore, there are "before and after the Qingming, point melon planting beans", "planting trees, no more than the Qingming" proverbs. It can be seen that this festival has a close relationship with agricultural production. However, as a festival, Qingming is different from a pure festival. The festival is a sign of the change of climate and the order of seasons in China, while the festival contains certain customary activities and some kind of commemorative significance. Qingming Festival is a traditional festival in China, and also the most important festival of sacrifices, a day for offering sacrifices to ancestors and sweeping tombs. Tomb-sweeping is commonly known as visiting the graves, an activity to honor the dead. Most Han Chinese and some ethnic minorities sweep their tombs on Qingming Day. According to the old custom, when sweeping tombs, people should bring wine, food, fruits, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer the food in front of their loved ones' graves, then incinerate the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, fold a few tender green new branches and stick them on the graves, then bow down and perform rituals and worship, and then eat the wine and food and go home at last. Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem entitled "Qingming": "The rain falls one after another during the Qingming Festival, and the pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Where can I find a tavern? The shepherd boy points to the apricot blossom village." The poem "Ching Ming" describes the special atmosphere of Ching Ming Festival. Qingming Festival, also known as Treading Green Festival, according to the solar calendar, it is between April 4 and 6 every year, it is the bright and sunny spring grass and trees spit green season, it is also a good time for people to spring tour (ancient called trekking), so the ancients have Qingming trekking, and a series of sports activities of the custom. Until today, the custom of worshipping ancestors and mourning deceased relatives on Qingming Day is still very popular. Sweeping graves at Qingming is a custom related to funeral rites. It is reported that in ancient times, "tomb but not grave", that is to say, only hit the grave pit, not to build a mound, so the cleaning is not found in the records. Later on, the tomb and the grave, the custom of cleaning will have a basis. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the tomb festival has become an indispensable ritual and customary activity. Han Shu. Yan Yan Nian biography", even if Yan's thousands of miles away from the capital will be in the Qingming "return to the East China Sea to sweep the cemetery". In terms of Chinese ancestor worship and the development of the sense of kinship, Yan Yan Nian's action is reasonable. Therefore, later generations did not include the ancient norms of the tomb sacrifice into the five rites: "the common people's homes, it is appropriate to allow the tomb, into the five rites, forever as a regular pattern." With the official recognition, the style of tomb worship was bound to flourish. Qingming Festival is a festival to honor ancestors. The main commemorative ceremony is sweeping the graves, which is a concrete manifestation of the prudence of the end of life and the pursuit of the distant future, of the unity of the family and of the filial piety, based on the above significance, the Qingming Festival has become an important festival of the Chinese people. The Qingming Festival falls at the intersection of mid-spring and late spring, 106 days after the winter solstice. Tomb-sweeping activities usually take place 10 days before or 10 days after the Qingming Festival. For some people of this origin, grave-sweeping activities last up to a month. Source When it comes to the Qingming Festival, people with some knowledge of history will associate it with the historical figure Jie Zitui. According to history, more than 2,000 years ago, during the Spring and Autumn Period, when Chong Er, the son of the State of Jin, fled the country and lived a hard life, Jie Zi Pui, who followed him, went so far as to cut a piece of meat from his own leg for him to feed himself. Later, Chong Er returned to the state of Jin, became the king (i.e. Duke Wen of Jin, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period), great reward for all the followers of his exile, but only Jie Zi Pui refused to accept the reward, and he brought his mother to live in Mianshan Mountain, refused to come out, Jin Wengong had no choice but to set the mountain on fire, and he thought Jie Zi Pui was filial to his mother, and he would surely come out with his old mother. He thought that Jie Zi Tui was filial to his mother and would surely bring her out, but the fire killed Jie Zi Tui and his son. In order to commemorate the death of Jie Zi Tui, Duke Wen of Jin ordered that every year on this day, fire is forbidden, and every family can only eat raw and cold food, which is the origin of the Cold Food Festival. The Cold Food Festival is the day before the Qingming Festival. Ancient people often continued the Cold Food Festival to Qingming, and over time, people combined the Cold Food and Qingming into one. Now, the Qingming Festival has replaced the Cold Food Festival, and the custom of worshipping Jie Zi Tui has become the custom of sweeping tombs in Qingming. Commemorative way Qingming Festival commemorates ancestors in various forms: Tomb-sweeping is one of the earliest customs of Qingming Festival, and this custom has been continued until today, which has been gradually simplified with the progress of the society. On the day of tomb-sweeping, children and grandchildren first trim and clean up the weeds in and around the graves of their ancestors, and then offer food and flowers. As cremation has become more and more common, the custom of grave sweeping is gradually being replaced by visits to the columbarium to pay respects to the deceased. The Chinese in Singapore also set up a shrine for the dead in temples, and temples have thus become a place for ancestor worship on Ching Ming Day. Some people also pay homage to their ancestors at home on Ching Ming Day. On Ching Ming Day, one may visit the gravesite of the deceased, the place where the ashes are placed or the shrine in the temple to bow in silence. Regardless of the form of remembrance, the most basic ritual of the Ching Ming Festival is to visit the gravesite, the place where the ashes are placed, or the memorial tablets in front of the ancestors. In order to make the ceremony more meaningful, we should let the younger generation of family members know about the past struggles of their ancestors.