What is the origin and customs of Qingming Festival? What are the customs of Qingming Festival
4hw.com.cn: Qingming Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China. It has a history of thousands of years. Every Qingming Festival, we have to sacrifice, step in spring and remember our ancestors. Do you know how Qingming Festival came? Let's take a look at the origin of Qingming Festival.
The origin of Qingming Festival:
Qingming Festival is around April 5 of the Gregorian calendar every year. The origin of the festival is related to jiezitui.
It is said that in the spring and Autumn period, Chong'er, the son of Jin, was exiled to avoid persecution. On his way to exile, he was tired and hungry in a lonely place and could not stand up any more. I couldn't find anything to eat for a long time. When everyone was very anxious, I pushed him to a quiet place and cut a piece of meat from my thigh. I cooked a bowl of meat soup for him to drink. Chong'er gradually regained his spirit. When Chong'er found that the meat was cut by jie'zitui, he shed tears.
Nineteen years later, Chong'er became the king of the state, which was the Duke of Jin in history. After he became the emperor, Duke Wen paid a heavy reward to the officials who accompanied him in exile, but he forgot jiezitui. Many people argue against jiezitui and persuade him to ask for reward from the king. However, jiezitui despises those who strive for reward. He packed up and went to live in seclusion in Mianshan.
Hearing this, Duke Wen of Jin was so ashamed that he took people to invite jiezitui himself. However, jiezitui had left for Mianshan. Mianshan mountain is high and dangerous with dense trees. It's not easy to find two people. Someone offered a plan to burn Mianshan mountain from three sides, forcing jiezitui out. The fire burned all over Mianshan, but there was no sign of jiezitui. After the fire died, people found that jiezitui, who was carrying his old mother, had died sitting under an old willow tree. Duke Wen of Jin saw this and wept. At the time of burialing, a blood book was found in the hole of the tree. It said: 'cut the flesh and serve the king with all your heart. I hope the Lord is always clear and bright. "To commemorate jieziti, Duke Wen of Jin ordered that this day be designated as cold food festival.
The next year, Duke Wen of Jin led his officials to mount a mountain to pay a memorial service, and found that the old willow died and rose. Then he gave the old willow as "Qingming willow" and told the world that the day after the cold food festival would be Qingming Festival.
What are the customs of Qingming Festival?
Tomb sweeping and ancestor worship
In the history of China, it has long been a custom to eat cold food without fire and offer sacrifices to ancestors. After the Tang Dynasty, the cold food festival gradually declined, and the tomb sweeping and ancestor worship on the Qingming Festival has become a continuous festival custom since then.
Bai Juyi, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in the poem "cold food and wild singing". It said that the crow crows the magpie and faints the trees. Whose family is crying in the cold food of the Qing Dynasty? The wind blows the paper money in the wilderness and the ancient tomb is full of spring grass.
Tangli flowers reflect white poplars, which are the places where life and death leave. The heavy spring in the dark desert is crying but not smelling. Gao juqing, a poet of Song Dynasty, once wrote in a poem that there were many tombs in the north and south of the mountain, and there were different kinds of sacrifices in the Qing and Ming Dynasties.
Paper ashes fly as white butterflies, tears and blood turn into red cuckoos. On the fox's sleeping grave at sunset, how could a drop reach Jiuquan!
Even in today's society, before and after the Qingming Festival, people still have the custom of going to the tomb to visit their ancestors: uprooting weeds, putting on offerings, offering incense and prayers in front of the tomb, burning paper money and gold ingots, or simply offering a bunch of flowers to express the memory of their ancestors.
To swing
Swing, this is the custom of Qingming Festival in ancient China. Swing means to move by the leather rope. Its history is very old, the earliest name is Qianqiu. Later, in order to avoid taboos, it changed to swing.
In ancient times, swing was made of tree branches and colored ribbons. Later, it gradually developed into a swing with two ropes and pedals. Swing plays were popular in the northern and Southern Dynasties.
It is recorded in Jingchu's chronicle of the age of Jin and Chu that 'in spring, a long rope is hung on a tall wood, and a scholar and a woman's colorful clothes are placed on it and pushed, which is called playing on the swing. 'swing in Tang Dynasty has become a very common game and an important part of the custom of Qingming Festival.
Because swing can be seen everywhere in the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Ming Festival was designated as swing festival in the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Swing was also set up in the imperial palace for the empress, concubines and maids to play.
Swing can not only improve health, but also cultivate courage. It is loved by people, especially children.
ancient game of kicking a ball
Ju is a kind of leather ball. The ball skin is made of leather and the ball is stuffed with fur. Cuju is to play football with your feet. This is a kind of game that people loved in ancient Qingming Festival. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor and was originally used to train warriors.
Shoot willow
Shooting willow is a game to practice archery skills. According to the records of the Ming Dynasty, the pigeon was placed in the gourd, and then the gourd was hung on the willow tree. The pigeon flew out of the gourd, and the victory was determined by the height of the flying pigeon.
Cockfighting
In ancient times, the game of cockfighting was popular in Qingming, which started from Qingming and lasted until the summer solstice. The earliest record of cock fighting in China can be found in Zuo Zhuan. In the Tang Dynasty, cockfighting became popular, not only among the people, but also among the emperor. For example, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty liked cockfighting the most.
Bombyx mori
Canhuahui is a unique folk culture in canxiang. In the past, during the Qingming Festival, Wuzhen, Chongfu, zhouquan and other places had this folk activity.
Among them, the silkworm Flower Fairs of maming temple in zhouquan and Shuangmiao temple in Qingshi are the most splendid and grand.
Maming temple, located in the west of zhouquan Town, is known as the "king of the temple". Every year, silkworm Flower Fair is full of people and frequent activities. There are more than ten activities, such as greeting silkworm God, rocking express boat, making stage Pavilion, worshiping incense stool, boxing, Dragon lantern, raising pole, singing and so on.
Some of these activities are carried out on shore, the vast majority of which are carried out on ships, with the characteristics of water villages. In recent years, the silkworm flower fair in Xiangshi of Wuzhen has only several projects, such as greeting the silkworm God, stepping on the white boat and raising the pole, which has great potential to be explored.
tug-of-war
In the early stage, it was called "hook" and "tug of war" in the Tang Dynasty. It was invented in the late spring and Autumn period, began to prevail in the military, and later spread among the people. Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty held a large-scale tug of war in the Qing and Ming Dynasties. Since then, tug of war has become part of the custom of the Qing and Ming Dynasties.
Outing
Qingming season, spring back to the earth, the nature everywhere presents a lively scene, it is a good time for outing. Chinese people have been keeping the habit of Qingming outing for a long time.
Zhao Zhiheng, director of Tianjin astronomical society, said that Qingming is usually around the third month of the lunar calendar, which is the time of spring return.
After a long cold winter, people come out of their houses to explore the spring outside -- or to go outing in the fields or in the countryside. These outings are called "outings". Outing is also called spring outing. In ancient times, it was called exploring spring, seeking spring, etc.
It is said that there was Qingming outing a long time ago. According to the old book of the Tang Dynasty, in February of the second year of the Dali, I was lucky to visit Kunming Lake. 'it can be seen that the custom of youth outing has long been popular. Du Fu has a poem of "go for a walk by the river, and look back to see the banners". In the Song Dynasty, the trend of outing prevailed.
Insert willow
It is said that the custom of planting willows is also to commemorate Shennong, the ancestor of farming, who teaches people how to farm. In some places, people put willows under the eaves to forecast the weather. There is an old saying that willows are green and rainy, and willows are dry and sunny.
Willow has a strong vitality, as the saying goes: 'have the heart to plant flowers without hair, have no heart to insert willow into shade. 'if you plant willows in soil, you will live. If you plant them, you will live. If you plant willows every year, you will become overcast everywhere.
There is also a saying that people in China use Qingming, July half and October new moon as the three Ghost Festivals. It's the time when hundreds of ghosts come and go for help. In order to prevent the invasion and persecution of ghosts, people insert willows and wear willows. Liu has the function of exorcising evil in people's mind.
Tree planting
Before and after the Qingming Festival, when the spring sun is shining, the spring rain is flying, the survival rate of planting seedlings is high and the growth is fast. Therefore, since ancient times, our country has the habit of planting trees in Qingming. Some people also call Qingming Day "tree planting day".
The custom of planting trees has been handed down to this day. In 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress stipulated that March 12 is the tree planting day in China. It is of great significance to mobilize the people of all ethnic groups to actively carry out the activities of greening the motherland.
fly a kite
Fly a kite. Flying kites in Qingming is a popular custom. According to pan rongbi, a Qing Dynasty man, when the emperor was old, Ji Sheng recorded: 'when Qing Dynasty was sweeping the tombs, men and women of the city fell out of the four suburbs, drinking boxes and looking at each other. Each carries a paper kite spool, and after the sacrifice, it is better to put it in front of the tomb. '
The ancients also thought that the wind of Qingming was very suitable for flying kites. "Qingjialu" said: "spring wind from the bottom up, because of which Zhiyuan, so there is & lsquo; Qingming fly broken kite & rsquo; proverb. '
In ancient times, flying kites was not only a kind of entertainment, but also a kind of Witchcraft: they thought that flying kites could let off their own filth.
So when many people fly kites on the Qingming Festival, they write all the diseases they know on the paper kite. When the kite flies high, they cut the kite line and let the paper kite fly with the wind. It means that their diseases and filth are taken away by the kite.