In a year, there are various festivals, each with different customs and meanings. So how much do you know about cold food festival? The festival before Qingming Festival is cold food festival. So how did it come about?
What is the date of cold food festival in 2019: Thursday, April 4, 2019, February 29 of the lunar calendar;
Cold food festival
105 days after the winter solstice and 12 days before the Qingming Festival. At the beginning of the day, fireworks are forbidden and only cold food is eaten. In the development of later generations, customs such as sweeping, outing, swing, Cuju, pulling hook and cockfighting were gradually added. The cold food festival lasted for more than 2000 years, and was once known as the first memorial day in China. Cold food festival is the only traditional festival of the Han nationality named after the diet custom.
Origin of cold food festival
According to historical records: in the spring and Autumn period, Chong'er, the son of the state of Jin, was exiled to other countries for 19 years in order to avoid disasters. During this period, Jie Zitui, the Minister of Jin, always followed the left and right, never gave up, and even "cut shares to eat the king". He always followed and protected Chong'er until Chong'er returned home safely. Later, Chong Er succeeded to the throne and worked hard to become a famous monarch of Jin Wengong.
In order to force him out of the mountain to meet with his mother, Duke Wen of Jin ordered him to set fire to the mountain. Jie Zitui was determined not to go out of the mountain and was eventually burned to death. In memory of his loyalty, Duke Wen of Jin buried him in Mianshan, built a temple and ordered him to ban fire and cold food on the day of Jie Zitui's death to express his sorrow. This is the origin of cold food festival.
Before Tang ruowang's calendar reform in the early Qing Dynasty, Qingming Festival was set two days after Hanshi Festival; after Tang's reform, Hanshi festival was set one day before Qingming Festival. The modern 24 solar terms follow Tang's, so cold food festival is just one day before Qingming Festival.
Since the spring and Autumn period, the cold food festival has a history of more than 2600 years. The story takes place in Shanxi, China. The cold food festival is set as the day before the Qingming Festival. On this day, the customs of eating cold food, offering sacrifices and outings have been handed down and accepted by the whole country. With the passage of time, the cold food festival has quietly integrated into the Qingming Festival, and the feudal loyalty thought represented by Jie Zitui has also sunk into the long history. However, the people's praise of loyalty, honesty and political purity represented by cold food has been the same for thousands of years.