What is the Cold Food Festival?

Cold Food Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. It has been celebrated for more than 2,000 years, and was once called the first major festival of Chinese folklore. It is the only one of the traditional Chinese festivals to be named after a food custom.

The Cold Food Festival is also known as the "Smoke-free Festival", "Cold Festival", "Hundred and Five Festival", one hundred and five 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, smoke and fire is prohibited, only eat cold food, and in the development of later generations gradually increased sweeping, trekking, swinging, cuju, pulling hooks, cockfighting and other customs.

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, designated the Cold Food Festival as the day before Qingming, and the customs of eating cold food, offering sacrifices and trekking on the green on the day have been passed down and accepted by the whole country. With the passage of time, the Cold Food Festival has been quietly integrated into the Qingming Festival, and the people's praise for loyalty, honesty and political clarity represented by the cold food is the same for thousands of years.

Customs of the Cold Food Festival

1, the cold food insertion of willow

Willow for the Cold Food Festival symbols of the original nostalgia for the pursuit of political clarity in the meaning of the push. As early as in the North and South Dynasties, "Jingchu chronicles" on the "Jianghuai cold food day family folding willow plug door" record, Anhui, Suzhou and other places are also prevalent in wearing mustard flowers, Pei wheat leaves instead of 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" Ching Ming (cold food) do not wear willow, red face into a white head "said.

2, cold food trekking

Trekking is also known as spring trekking, flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, Li Zhiyan's "East Valley" reads: "After the worship and sweeping of things, the cold food festival trekking cold food festival trekking, and then with brothers, wives, relatives, and the deed of friendship to enjoy the excursion, and return to the joy". In the Ming Dynasty, "The Emperor's Scenery" recorded the scene of trekking in Beijing as follows: "On the Qingming Day of the year (Cold Food), all the people trekked on the green, and there were tens of thousands of tourists on horseback, riding horses and walking." It can be said to be the most prosperous.

3, cold food swing

Swing originally for the ancient cold food festival court women's amusement projects. 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."

Reference for the above: Baidu Encyclopedia - Cold Food Festival