Qingming stroll

Qingming is one of the twenty-four solar terms, and after the vernal equinox, it is the fifth solar term in a year. The ancient book says, "Everything grows clean and bright at this time. So it is called Qingming. " He added: "The snow and ice melt, the vegetation turns green, the weather is fine and everything is thriving." This is an explanation of the origin of Qingming.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is another festival. In some places, the winter solstice in the 24 solar terms is also a festival, such as Xinzhou District, Shangrao County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province. But Qingming is a national festival, which is unique among the 24 solar terms.

Folklore experts believe that Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ancient Cold Food Festival. The Cold Food Festival is actually the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day, and some people think it is the 105 day from winter to the future. Han Yi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem "Cold Food", "There are flowers everywhere in the spring city, and the willow branches in the east wind eat cold food obliquely. At dusk, candles were passed in the Han Palace, and light smoke was scattered into the home of the Five Emperors. "Cold food" is the Cold Food Festival. Cold food festival, no smoking, eat cold food. The so-called "Han Palace" actually refers to the palaces in the Tang Dynasty, not the palaces in the Han Dynasty.

The origin of Cold Food Festival is related to Jin Wengong and Jie Zhitui. According to legend, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jin Xiangong's concubine killed the prince in order to let her son inherit the throne, and Shen Sheng was forced to commit suicide. Shen Sheng's younger brother, Zhong Er, went into exile to escape the scourge. During his exile, Zhong Er suffered humiliation. Most of the courtiers who went out with him went out one after another. Only a few loyal people have been following him. One of them is called meson push. On one occasion, Zhong Er fainted from hunger. In order to save Zhong Er, Jiezitui cut a piece of meat from his leg, cooked it with fire and gave it to Zhong Er. Nineteen years later, Zhong Er returned to China and became the monarch, that is, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period.

After Jin Wengong came to power, in addition to meson push, he offered many rewards to courtiers who shared his joys and sorrows. Someone defended meson in front of Jin Wengong. Jin Wengong suddenly remembered the past and felt guilty. He immediately sent someone to ask meson to take the imperial court to be rewarded as an official. However, after several trips, the meson could not be pushed. Jin Wengong had to please. However, when Jin Wengong came to the meson pusher's house, he saw that the door was closed. Jiezitui didn't want to see him, and had already been hiding in Mianshan (southwest of Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province) behind his mother's back. Jin Wengong asked his body guard to search Mianshan, but he couldn't find it. So, someone had an idea, saying, it is better to let Yamakaji go, set fire on three sides, leave one side, burn it and the meson will come out. Jin Wengong ordered the mountain to be burned. Unexpectedly, the fire burned for three days and nights. After the fire was put out, no mesons were pushed out after all. Looking up the mountain, the mother and son were holding a charred willow tree and were dead. Jin Wengong looked at meson push's body and cried for a while, then buried it, and found that meson push's back was blocked by a willow hole, and there seemed to be something in the hole. Take out a look, turned out to be a skirt, with a blood poem:

I hope your master is always clear.

It is better to be a ghost than to accompany you as an exhorter.

If your master has me in his heart, remember that I often reflect.

I have a clear conscience in Jiuquan, diligent and honest.

Jin Wengong hid the bloody book in his sleeve. Then meson tui and his mother were buried under the charred willow tree. To commemorate Jiexiu, Jin Wengong ordered Mianshan to be changed to Jiexiu Mountain, and an ancestral temple was built on the mountain, and the day when Yamakaji was released was designated as the Cold Food Festival, telling the whole country that it is forbidden to set off fireworks and firecrackers on this day every year and only eat cold food.

When he left, he cut a charred willow and made a pair of clogs in the palace. He looked at it every day and sighed, "What a pity." The "first step" is the name of ancient people's subordinates respecting each other between superiors or peers, which is said to come from it.

The following year, Jin Wengong led his ministers to go hiking in plain clothes to show their respect and condolences. Walking to the grave, I saw the dead old willow tree resurrected, with thousands of green branches dancing in the wind. Jin Wengong looked at the resurrected old willow tree and seemed to see the meson push. He walked up to him respectfully, lovingly squeezed a branch, braided it into a circle and put it on his head. After the sacrifice, Jin Wengong named the revived old willow "Qingming Willow" and named it Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Later, Jin Wengong often took this bloody book as a souvenir, urging him to remain in power. He is diligent and honest, and strives to govern the country well.

In modern times, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day have become one.

Some folk experts believe that Tomb-Sweeping Day originated from the ancient Shangsi Festival. Shangsi Festival is a very important festival in ancient times. Before the Han dynasty, it was designated as the fourth day of March, and later it was designated as the third day of the third lunar month.

China is a country without religious traditions. Although there are Buddhism and Taoism, and in a certain period of history, Buddhism and Taoism even flourished because of the emperor, but they have not become the mainstream of China society. For thousands of years, how did the Chinese nation hold such a huge nation together? Through culture. The festival culture of the Chinese nation has played a very important role in it. The most basic custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day is to sweep graves. In the folk, besides clearing weeds and sundries in the cemetery, sweeping graves in Qingming involves burning incense, paper and hanging money, which is very religious. Hanging paper money in some places is also exquisite: sons hang white paper money in front of graves, and daughters hang red paper money in front of graves. During Tomb-Sweeping Day, paper money flying in rural cemeteries has become a unique religious landscape in China.

Tomb-Sweeping Day's grave-sweeping means remembering and being grateful, and to some extent, it also means going for an outing, having an outing and keeping fit. Tomb-Sweeping Day is really a traditional festival with rich meanings. In history, many poets have left a large number of exquisite poems chanting Tomb-Sweeping Day, such as: it rains in the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy just laughed and didn't answer Xingshan Village. All-round willow green smoke, draw a clear February day. The festival is clear, and peaches and plums laugh. The original vegetation in the suburbs softened after the rain. These famous sentences add a lot of color to Qingming, a traditional festival in China, and make it full of literary and cultural flavor.

Almost every family in Tomb-Sweeping Day and Wuyuan eats Qingming fruit. The clear fruit of Wuyuan is mainly the leaves of torreya grandis, which is the "fruit" in the Book of Songs. With the improvement of the living standards of ordinary people in Wuyuan, especially the development of night tourism in Wuyuan, now Wuyuan can eat Qingming fruit all year round. Clear fruit is stuffed with pickles and shredded radish. In a word, the Qingming fruit of Wuyuan, as a traditional food, is deeply loved by tourists.