The Evolution of Qingming Festival

The evolution of the Qingming Festival is as follows:

The Cold Food Festival originated during the Spring and Autumn Period, and is said to have been held in honor of Jie Zi Tui, a loyal minister of the state of Jin. Legend has it that at that time, the king of Jin was usurped by the powerful minister Tu Shuan Jia, and Jie Zi Tui, being a loyal minister, decided not to serve the usurper anymore and hanged himself to death. The local people established the Cold Food Festival in honor of Jie Zi push.

On the day of the Cold Food Festival, people banned fire, no smoke, and ate only cold food, as a way to express their respect for Jie Zi push. Later, the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival merged with each other, gradually evolving into a festival with many customs, such as ancestor worship and tomb-sweeping.

The evolution of the Qingming Festival can be divided into two stages. The first stage is the fusion of the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival. Before the Tang Dynasty, the Qingming Festival and the Cold Food Festival were close to each other, usually in the same period. The Qingming Festival was mainly a spring trekking activity, in which people visited places of interest, enjoyed flowers and trekked on this day, and expressed their expectations for spring.

The poem "Qingming" by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, describes the scene of rain falling at the time of the Qingming Festival and pedestrians on the road wanting to break their souls, which shows the characteristics of the Qingming Festival. The Cold Food Festival, on the other hand, is a fire-banning and sacrificial event, and the two customs complement each other. After the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival and the Qingming Festival were gradually merged into one unified festival.

The second stage is the development and change of Qingming Festival. In the Song Dynasty, the Qingming Festival had become a festival with rich connotations. In addition to trekking, there were many other customs, such as ancestor worship, tomb-sweeping, kite-flying and swinging.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Qingming Festival gradually became an important festival of ancestor and tomb-sweeping. On this day, people, in addition to trekking in the green, also pay tribute to ancestors, sweep tombs and pay homage to ancestors, to express their admiration and remembrance of their ancestors. The custom of Qingming Festival has been widely spread and become one of the cultural traditions of the Chinese nation.

The custom of paying homage to ancestors and sweeping tombs on the Qingming Festival has deep cultural connotations. This custom embodies the Chinese people's family concepts of respecting elders and being grateful for rewards, as well as the sense of passing on culture and promoting virtues.

On the Qingming Festival, family members gather together and pay homage to their ancestors' graves to pray for their blessings as well as to express their longing for their ancestors. At the same time, the Qingming Festival is also a festival that reminds people to cherish life and honor nature. During the Qingming ancestor worship, people use offerings such as grains and fruits to express their gratitude to their ancestors and to symbolize the continuation and inheritance of life.