Is there any difference between Qingming Festival and Hanshi Festival? Is Qingming Festival Hanshi Festival? As a pair of festivals with similar dates, Qingming Festival and Hanshi Festival have both connections and differences. Although the two festivals are very similar, there are still great differences. Let's get to know them. Can you tell the difference between Qingming Festival and Hanshi Festival?
Cold food festival in 2018 is on Wednesday, April 4.
The specific date of the cold food festival is about 105 days after the winter solstice. Now in most parts of Shanxi, the cold food festival is held on the day before Qingming Festival. Yushe County and a few other places celebrate the cold food festival two days before the Qingming Festival. Yuanqu County also stresses that the day before Qingming Festival is cold food festival, and the day before Qingming Festival is small cold food.
The origin of cold food festival should be the worship of fire in ancient times. The ancients could not live without fire, but fire often caused great disasters to human beings, so the ancients thought that fire had gods and they had to sacrifice fire. Once a year, the fire worshipped by each family will be stopped. Then a new fire is set on fire again, which is called changing fire. When the fire was changed, grand ancestor worship activities were held to burn the symbol of grain God Ji, which was called human sacrifice. As a result, the fire prohibition Festival came into being.
The fire prohibition festival was later transformed into the cold food festival to commemorate Jie Zitui, a famous official and righteous scholar of Jin State in the spring and Autumn period. It is said that during the period of Jin Wengong's exile, Jiezi who once cut shares to satisfy his hunger. After returning to the state as king, Duke Wen of the Jin Dynasty forgot to set aside his officials. Jie Zitui, unwilling to praise his merits and compete for favor, lived in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan. Later, Duke Wen of Jin personally went to Mianshan to invite Jie Zitui. Jie Zitui didn't want to be an official and hid in the mountains. Wengong's men set fire to the mountain. The original intention was to force jiezitui to show up. As a result, jiezitui was burned to death with his mother under a big tree. In memory of this loyal minister Yishang, on the day of Jie Zitui's death, he did not make a fire to cook, but had to eat cold food, which was called cold food festival.
Qingming Festival
Qingming Festival, also known as the outing Festival, is at the turn of mid spring and late spring, which is the 108th day after the winter solstice. It is a traditional Chinese festival and one of the most important sacrificial festivals. It is a day for ancestor worship and tomb sweeping. The traditional Qingming Festival of the Chinese nation began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2500 years. Qingming Festival is also one of the three Ghost Festivals in China. Ghost Festival is the festival of mourning for the dead, which is relative to the festival of offering sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth.
Qingming was originally just a name of solar term, which became a festival to commemorate ancestors and was related to cold food festival. Duke Wen of Jin designated the day after the cold food festival as Qingming Festival. In most areas of Shanxi, the cold food festival is held one day before the Qingming Festival; in Yushe County, the cold food festival is held two days before the Qingming Festival; in Yuanqu County, the cold food festival is held one day before the Qingming Festival, and the cold food festival is held two days before the Qingming Festival.
Qingming Festival is one of the most important festivals in China. It is usually around the 5th of April in the Gregorian calendar. The festival period is very long. There are two kinds of sayings: 10 days before and 8 days after and 10 days before and 10 days after. It is Qingming Festival in the past 20 days.
Qingming Festival, together with the Dragon Boat Festival, Spring Festival and Mid Autumn Festival, is known as China's four traditional festivals. On May 20, 2006, the Qingming Festival declared by the Ministry of culture of China was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list (category: folk customs; number: X - 2) with the approval of the State Council.
Qingming was originally just a name of solar term, which became a festival to commemorate ancestors and was related to cold food festival. Qingming Festival later absorbed the content of Shangsi Festival, another earlier Festival. In ancient times, Shangsi festival was held on the third day of the third month of the third lunar month. The main customs are outing and bathing (bathing near the river to pray for disaster relief), reflecting people's psychological need for mental adjustment after a dull winter.
Finally, in the song and Yuan Dynasties, a tomb sweeping day, which was the essence of two ancient festivals, was formed. It was a traditional festival combining the cold food custom with the Shangsi outing.