Seek the origin and customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day, the more detailed, the better.

Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Walking Festival, is a traditional festival at the turn of mid-spring and late spring in China, and it is also one of the most important festivals to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, which started in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years.

The origin of Tomb-Sweeping Day:

According to records, Tomb-Sweeping Day began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. By the Tang Dynasty, Tomb-Sweeping Day's influence was growing. He gradually merged Shangsi Festival with Cold Food Festival to form the present Tomb-Sweeping Day.

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhong Er, the son of the Jin Dynasty, was persecuted and had to flee abroad. However, on the way to escape, tired and hungry, it is difficult to stand, and life is at stake. However, it is deserted here, and the accompanying ministers can't find food anywhere. Everyone is extremely anxious and there is nothing they can do.

At this time, Xie tui went to a quiet place quietly, cut a piece of meat from his thigh, cooked a bowl of soup, and let the son drink it. Zhong Er slowly regained his energy. He was grateful when he learned that Jie tui had cut off the meat on his leg. Later, Zhong Er and Jin Wengong became monarchs. I only forgot the meson push when I rewarded the minister. Many people advised him to reward him, but Jiezitui packed his bags and accompanied his mother to Mianshan quietly for seclusion. Hearing this, Jin Wengong was ashamed. He personally took someone to ask Jiezitui, but left to live in Mianshan. There is no way, we must release Yamakaji and force the meson to push. But instead, the fire burned all over, and I didn't see it. Later, after the fire was put out, meson tui was found sitting under an old willow tree with his old mother on his back and died. Jin Wengong cried. When I was buried, I found a skirt in a tree hole, which said, "May my master be always clear."

To commemorate meson tui, Jin Wengong ordered that this day be designated as Cold Food Festival. On this day, it is forbidden to set off fireworks and only eat cold food. At the same time, Mianshan was renamed "Jieshan", and a ancestral hall was built on the mountain to commemorate it. The following year, Jin Wengong led ministers to climb mountains to pay homage. When he discovered that the old willow tree had come back from the dead, he gave it the title of "Qingming Willow" and named the day after the Cold Food Festival as Tomb-Sweeping Day.

? 1. sweeping the grave?

Sweeping graves on Qingming Festival is called "respecting thinking about time" for ancestors. Its customs have a long history. In the Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital", it was written: "On the Qingming Festival in March, men and women went to the grave to pay their respects, and the gold ingot was hung on the back of the sedan chair, and the road was full of embarrassment. Worshipers, mourners, weeping, weeding, adding soil to graves, burning ingots several times, and buying graves with paper money. If you can't see the paper money, it will be a lonely grave. After crying, don't go back, go to the fragrant tree, choose the garden, and sit down and get drunk. " In fact, grave-sweeping existed before the Qin Dynasty, but not necessarily during the Qingming period, but after the Qin Dynasty. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that it became popular. Qing thomas lee said, "On New Year's Eve, the Cold Food Festival and the First Frost Festival, you should offer sacrifices to sweep the graves. During the period, I will serve my bed with vegetarian food, use wine and tools for cutting vegetation, seal trees in the middle of the week, and break Cao Jing, so it is called sweeping the grave. " And spread to this day.

? 2. Go for an outing?

Going for an outing in spring, also known as "going for a spring outing", generally refers to going for a walk in the suburbs in early spring. During my stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, I went to nature to enjoy and appreciate the spring scenery, and went hiking in the suburbs. This kind of outing is also called spring outing. In ancient times, it was called spring exploration. It means stepping on the grass, playing in the country and watching the scenery in spring. This seasonal folk activity, outing, has a long history in China, and its source is the ancient Spring Festival custom of farming sacrifice. This Spring Festival custom of farming sacrifice has a far-reaching influence on later generations. ?

At the time of Qingming, it is spring that returns to the earth. People take advantage of the opportunity of sweeping graves and have fun in mountainous areas and rural areas. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, some people went to nature to enjoy and appreciate the vibrant spring scenery, and went hiking in the suburbs to express their depression since the severe winter. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a good time to go for an outing, so it has become an important part of Tomb-Sweeping Day customs.

? 3. plant trees?

According to legend, in the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the Emperor Gaozu, had no time to go back to his hometown to worship his ancestors because he was fighting outside all the year round. It was not until he became emperor that he had a chance to go home to worship his ancestors. However, he didn't find his parents' graves because he didn't go home all the year round. Later, with the help of officials, he found a dilapidated tombstone in the chaotic grass, so he ordered people to build a grave and erect a monument, and planted pines and cypresses in front of the grave as a sign. It happened that this day was the Tomb-Sweeping Day in the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar, so Liu Bang, on the advice of Confucian scholars, designated Tomb-Sweeping Day as the ancestor worship festival. After that, every time he went to Tomb-Sweeping Day, Liu Bang would return to his hometown and hold a grand ancestor worship and tree planting activity. Later, this custom spread to the people, and people combined Qingming ancestor worship with tree planting, and gradually formed a fixed folk custom. In the Tang Dynasty, inserting willow in Qingming Festival became a very popular folk custom. The so-called willow insertion originally refers to the act of inserting willow branches into people. However, in the process of ancestor worship, people often insert willow branches into graves or the ground. As the saying goes, "there is another village." When the willow is inserted into the ground, the willow branches will survive and inadvertently play the role of planting trees.

There is another saying: Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring is bright and the spring rain is falling, and the survival rate of planted saplings is high and the growth is fast. Therefore, China has the habit of planting trees in Qingming since ancient times. Some people even call Tomb-Sweeping Day Arbor Day. The custom of planting trees has been passed down to this day. 1979, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) stipulated March 12 every year as China's Arbor Day. This is of great significance to mobilize people of all ethnic groups in China to actively carry out activities to green the motherland.

? 4. planting willows through willows?

It's a traditional custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which is popular all over the country, especially in the south. Nowadays, the custom of planting trees in Tomb-Sweeping Day evolved from the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day. On the festival day, some people put willow branches in front of the door or under the eaves, some people wear wicker rings on their heads, some local women wear wicker on their heads, and men wear wicker on their bodies. According to legend, this custom was originally to commemorate Shennong, who taught people to grow crops. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, people planted willow branches on New Year's Day, thinking that they could avoid ghosts. Later, this custom moved to the Cold Food Festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day. In addition, inserting willows also means remembering the years and praying for longevity. There is a folk proverb: "Eat a wheat and live a hundred; Wear a flower, live180; Insert a willow and live for a hundred years. "

There is another saying in Tomb-Sweeping Day: It turns out that China people regard Tomb-Sweeping Day, July 30th and the first day of October as the three major ghost festivals, which are the time for ghosts to haunt and ask for help. People stick around to prevent ghosts from harassing and persecuting. Willow has the function of ward off evil spirits in people's minds. Influenced by Buddhism, people think that willow can exorcise ghosts, which is called "fear of ghost wood". Guanyin bodhisattva helps all beings by soaking willow. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty said in the Book of Qi Yao Min: "Take a willow branch and put it on the house, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the house." Tomb-Sweeping Day is a ghost festival. When the season of wicker germination comes, people naturally insert willows and wear willows to avoid evil spirits.

? 5. Cuju?

Bow is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju is kicking the ball with your feet. This is a popular game in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor with the original purpose of training warriors. Playing polo is also one of the ways to play the Dragon Boat Festival. Polo is riding a horse and hitting with a stick. In ancient times, it was called bowing. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a saying in Cao Zhiming's name that "there is a sentence in a row". In Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty, there was a wide stadium, and emperors such as Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty and Jing Zong all liked polo. Ma Qiutu, in the tomb of Prince Zhang Huai, depicts the prosperity of polo in the Tang Dynasty: more than 20 horses galloped at high speed and their ponytails were tied up. Players are wearing shawls, boots and sticks, hitting each other one by one.

Analysis of Golden Branches records the traditional custom of polo as a festival in Liao country, and polo is played on Dragon Boat Festival and Double Ninth Festival. Li Shizhi also recorded that Jin people hit the ball during the Dragon Boat Festival. In the Song Dynasty, there was a "Ball Play Music" dance team. In the Ming Dynasty, polo was still popular. According to the general examination of continued literature, Ming Chengzu hit the ball and shot the willow many times in Dongyuan.

"Swallows are coming, news agencies are coming, and pear flower falls is behind Tomb-Sweeping Day." Let's live a "pure and clean" Tomb-Sweeping Day and turn all kinds of joys and sorrows, food and entertainment into beautiful spiritual sustenance.