Why did Tomb-Sweeping Day stick willow branches in the door?

Whenever Tomb-Sweeping Day comes, people stick willow branches all over their doors. The reasons vary from place to place, as follows: Jingxian and Shouchun in Anhui province are called to avoid the epidemic, and Changsha in Hunan province is called to remember the year. Taizhou, Zhejiang Province is said to be able to exterminate stinging insects (that is, nine niang, also known as millipedes), while Jizhou, Hebei Province, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Zhangbei, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia are said to be unknown. In Suzhou and Yongjia, people wear wicker rings on their heads in Tomb-Sweeping Day, and children decorate them with flowers.

Extended data:

Besides, there is a very important custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day, that is, sweeping graves.

Sacrificing ancestors and sweeping graves is an important festival custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day, July 15 and 1 October1Sunday are the three major ghost festivals in China. At that time, people will hold some ancestor worship activities, such as sweeping graves, paying homage to the dead and sending cold clothes, to show their cautious pursuit of the future, not forgetting the feelings of their ancestors, and at the same time convey their wish to pray for their blessings.

Ancestor worship activities during the Qingming period can be held on the day of Tomb-Sweeping Day or within a few days before and after. Zhejiang pays attention to "the first three and then four", and Shanghai has the saying that "the first seven and then eight, the ghost is on holiday".

Sweeping graves everywhere means planting green trees and weeding, which means that the owner of the tomb has a future and his family is immortal.

According to the usual practice, after the sacrifice, the big ones are pigs and sheep, and the small ones are goose meat, all of which are distributed to the people. This custom is called Sanqing in Jinyun, Zhejiang, Qingming Liquor in Shengxian, Zhejiang, Tomb-Sweeping Day in Gu 'an, Hebei, Qingming Tomb in Chengdu, Sichuan and Fangcai in Qixia, Shandong. The bride took part in ancestor worship for the first time after entering the door, and there is also a nice name, that is, going to the flower grave.

During the period of Tomb-Sweeping Day, people who have left their homes or cannot go to the ancestral graves for other reasons will go to the crossroads or the top of the mountain, pray and burn paper in the direction of the ancestral graves, and worship their ancestors from a distance.