For Chinese traditional festivals, we always don't understand, because each festival has many kinds of names, and the time before and after the festival is very similar, so there are always several festivals that can't make clear the relationship, such as the relationship between cold food festival and Qingming Festival, many people are confused. In order to let you have a better and clearer understanding of the two festivals, Xiaobian introduces the difference between Hanshi Festival and Qingming Festival. Let's have a quick look.
The relationship between Hanshi Festival and Qingming Festival
In ancient times, the relationship between Qingming Festival and Hanshi festival in time was that the day before Qingming was Hanshi Festival. Now the two have been combined in customs.
Qingming Festival began in Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2500 years. Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar. In this season, the rainfall increases, and the Earth presents the image of spring and Jingming. It is said that the Qingming Festival originated from the ceremony of "Tomb sacrifice" for emperors and generals in ancient times. Later, the folk also followed suit and offered sacrifices to ancestors and swept away graves on this day.
In ancient times, the day before the Qingming Festival was called "cold food festival". It is said that in the spring and Autumn period, Duke Wen of Jin was in trouble. Jie Zitui cut his own flesh to satisfy his hunger. After he ascended the throne, Duke Wen of Jin invited Jie Zitui to be an official. However, Jie Zitui lived in seclusion in Mianshan. Duke Wen of Jin set the mountain on fire to force Jie Zitui out, but he burned him to death by mistake. Duke Wen of Jin was very regretful and ordered to ban fire from now on. Because of the fire ban, people can only eat cold food on this day, so it is called 'cold food'. Later, the cold food of the Qingming Festival was gradually combined into one, which became a traditional festival of the Chinese nation.
The difference between Hanshi Festival and Qingming Festival
1、 Different functions:
When the Qingming Festival comes, the cold food festival also comes with it. Now, it is wrong for some people to confuse cold food with Qingming. Because the two are farming solar terms and folk festivals, which are not the same thing. Qingming is one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, usually around the fourth or fifth day of April in the Gregorian calendar. Cold food is a folk festival, originated in the spring and Autumn period, Jin Wengong Chong'er minister Jie Zhi Tui Ning was burned to death, Shanxi Jiexiu Mianshan, also refused to go down the mountain to be granted. One is farming solar terms, the other is allusions and folk customs, which are two different things. However, the two festivals are one or two days apart, or even coincide on one day, so it is said that Qingming and Hanshi are both called.
2、 Different cultural connotations
Before the Tang Dynasty, cold food and Qingming were two successive festivals with different themes. The former was nostalgic and mourning, while the latter was seeking new life; one Yin and one Yang had a close relationship with each other. The purpose of banning fire is to produce fire, and the purpose of sacrificing death is to protect life. This is the internal cultural connection between cold food and Qingming. In the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court fixed the custom of tomb sweeping in the form of government decrees on the cold food festival before the Qingming Festival. Because cold food and Qingming are closely related in time, the custom of cold food festival has been associated with the Qingming Festival for a long time, and tomb sweeping has been extended from cold food to Qingming.
The evolution of the relationship between Qingming and Hanshi
One is the unrelated stage: before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, 'Qingming Festival' only refers to one of the 24 seasons that distinguish the alternation of seasons and the operation of farming. The main project of cold food festival is to ban smoking and eat cold food, and the time is in the cold winter season.
The second is the stage of mutual integration: in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, the time of cold food festival was determined to be on the '150' day after the winter solstice, only one or two days ahead of the Qingming Festival, and the content of 'cold food going to the tomb, gradually becoming a custom, being allowed to go to the tomb and paying homage to the tomb' was added.
Third, the Qingming Festival gradually replaced the cold food festival: with the passage of time, as the main item of the cold food festival - no smoking and cold food, gradually weakened, the cold food festival gradually began to be replaced by the Qingming Festival. By the Qing Dynasty, some popular items of cold food festival were no longer popular, and folk tomb sweeping, official altars and royal mausoleums became the main activities of the festival. During this period, although the name "Hanshi" appeared from time to time in some documents, local chronicles and literary works, the title "Qingming" became the mainstream. Qingming Festival originated from Hanshi Festival. Hanshi was only one or two days before Qingming, so it was naturally borrowed by the latter. The cultural basis of this borrowing is people's habitual psychology of years and seasons inherited and accumulated from generation to generation.
What are the traditional foods of cold food festival
1. Qingming fruit: a kind of food made before and after the Qingming Festival. The shape of the fruit is like dumplings, but the taste is quite different. The skin is made of rat Jucao or wormwood, and the stuffing is leek, egg, dried bean curd, etc.
2. Youth League: a kind of green cake made of straw juice, sweet, soft and glutinous, with the aroma of Wormwood Leaves. Eat Youth League is mainly popular in Jiangnan area of the Qingming Festival, cold food festival and other festivals, is the traditional festival food of the Han nationality.
3. Run cake dish: also known as run cake, tender cake dish, is a kind of spring roll, originated in Quanzhou, and then popular in Taiwan and Fujian. During the Qingming Festival, people in Quanzhou have the custom of eating 'moistening cakes and vegetables'. It is said that this is a relic of the cold food festival in ancient times.
4. Qingjing rice: also known as WuFan, wurice and Wuren rice, it is cooked with the juice of WuFan tree method dyed with glutinous rice. Its color is dark green, and it is one of the foods of cold food festival. On the third day of March every year, every family of the She nationality cooks "Wu Ren rice" and presents it to relatives and friends of the Han nationality. Over time, the local Han people also have the custom of eating "Wu Ren rice" during the Qingming Festival.
5. Cold food porridge: during the cold food festival, people are not allowed to move fireworks, they need to prepare porridge and other cold food to commemorate. This cold food porridge is a festival diet handed down from the cold food festival.