Is Tomb-Sweeping Day based on the lunar calendar or the solar calendar?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called an outing festival. According to the solar calendar, every year between April 4th and 6th.

The traditional Tomb-Sweeping Day in China began in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Tomb-Sweeping Day is first of all a very important solar term. As soon as Tomb-Sweeping Day arrives, the temperature rises, which is a good season for spring ploughing and planting. Therefore, there is a saying that "melons and beans are planted before and after Qingming". Agricultural proverb "Planting trees is not as clear as Qingming". Later, as Qingming and cold food approached, and cold food was the day when people banned fire from sweeping graves, gradually, cold food and Qingming became one, and cold food became another name of Qingming and a custom in Qingming period. Tomb-Sweeping Day doesn't move fireworks, but only eats cold food.

There is a legend about cold food:

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.

Run away 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 a monarch, which was one of the famous five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Wengong.

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, felt guilty, and immediately went bad.

People went to ask meson to push them to the imperial court to be rewarded and sealed. 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 (now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province) behind his mother's back. Jin Wengong asked his body guard to search Mianshan, but he couldn't find it. So, someone came up with an idea and said, it is better to let Yamakaji go, set fire on three sides, and leave one side when setting fire.

The meson push will come out on its own. Jin Wengong ordered the promotion of Yamakaji. Unexpectedly, the fire burned for three days and nights. After the fire was put out, the meson was not 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 I buried the body and found that the back of meson push was blocked by a willow hole, as if there was something. 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 a bloody book with him as a souvenir, urging himself to take power. He is diligent and honest, and strives to govern the country well.

Since then, the people of Jin have been able to live and work in peace and contentment, and they are very nostalgic for Jietui, who has made outstanding contributions and is not looking for wealth. On the day of his death, it is forbidden to set off fireworks in memory of him. It is also made of flour and jujube paste.

Swallow's appearance, strung with willow, inserted in the door to summon his soul. This thing is called "pushing Yan" (meson push is also called intermediary push). Since then, cold food and Qingming have become grand festivals for the people of the whole country. Whenever there is cold food, people don't make a fire to cook, but only eat cold food. In the north, people only eat cold food prepared in advance, such as jujube cakes and wheat cakes. In the south, there are mostly green balls and glutinous rice and sugar lotus roots. Every time I go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, people weave wicker into a circle and wear it on their heads.

Wicker branches were planted in front of and behind the house to show their nostalgia.

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The custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day

It is said that the custom of inserting willows is to commemorate Shennong, the ancestor of farming, who taught the people to cultivate crops. In some places, people put willow branches under the eaves to forecast the weather. There is an old saying that "the willow branches are green and the rain is raining;" The saying that there is another village. Willow has a strong vitality, as the saying goes: "If you plant flowers with your heart, you will plant willows without your heart. "Wicker lives when it is inserted in the soil, where it is inserted, where it is inserted every year, and the shade is everywhere.

There is another saying: China people regard Tomb-Sweeping Day, July 30th and the first day of October as the three major ghost festivals. Tomb-Sweeping Day is a season of frequent ghost haunts and great demand. Influenced by Buddhism, Guanyin Bodhisattva held willow branches in her hands and dipped them in water, so many people think that willow branches have the function of exorcising ghosts and evil spirits, calling them "ghost trees". Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty wrote in the Book of Qi Yao Min: "Take Yang Liuzhi to the mansion, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the mansion." Because Tomb-Sweeping Day is a Ghost Festival, people insert willows and wear willows to ward off evil spirits in the season when wicker sprouts.

Another way of saying it is that this custom is to commemorate meson push. Jietui set himself on fire under the willow tree to keep the festival, which made Jin Wengong, his ministers and people feel sad. The next year, when Jin Wengong personally led the ministers to climb the mountain to worship Jiexiu, he found that the old willow trees that had been burned in those years had actually come back from the dead. Jin Wengong named the old willow in front of him "Qingming Willow", and on the spot, he broke off a few branches and put them on his head to show his memory. Since then, officials and people have followed suit and followed suit. It has become a symbol to commemorate meson push.

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How did the ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day go?

Tomb-Sweeping Day is also called an outing festival. According to the Gregorian calendar, between April 4th and 6th every year, it is a season of bright spring and lush vegetation. Wu Weixin, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote in his poem Qingming is a matter in Su Causeway: "Pear blossoms rise in the wind, and wanderers seek spring and go out of the city. At dusk, the songs are packed away, and Wanliu is a warbler. "

Before and after the beautiful spring in Tomb-Sweeping Day, getting close to nature and outing is another important activity of Tomb-Sweeping Day custom. In the old society, in the countryside during the Qingming Festival, the scene of spring outing was very grand and lively. At that time, recreational activities occupied a very important position in Tomb-Sweeping Day customs, which was almost equivalent to offering sacrifices, so the ancients had the saying of "going for an outing in Qingming Festival".

Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, Tomb-Sweeping Day has become a folk festival, and there are many activities for Qingming outing. Common activities include swinging, tug-of-war, butterfly flapping, herb picking, kite flying, willow planting and so on. It is "willow silk smoke all over the street, painting a clear March day." Fortunately, flowers and trees moved past the curtain, and the girls sent them to play on the swing. "

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Seasonal food in Tomb-Sweeping Day

Because of the combination of Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, some places still keep the habit of eating cold food in Tomb-Sweeping Day. In Shandong, Jimo eats eggs and cool cakes, while Laiyang, Zhaoyuan and Long Island eat eggs and cool sorghum rice. It is said that if not, there will be hail. Taian eats cold pancakes and rolls bitter vegetables. It is said that his eyes are bright. Jinzhong area still retains the habit of banning fire the day before Qingming.

In many places, after the sacrificial ceremony is completed, food will be sacrificed. When Jinnan people crossed Tomb-Sweeping Day, they used to steam big steamed buns with white flour, with walnuts, dates and beans in the middle, dragons on the outside and dragons in the middle.

An egg named Zifu. It is necessary to steam a big "blessing" to symbolize family reunion and happiness. When going to the grave, the "Zifu" is usually dedicated to the ancestors and shared by the whole family after sweeping the grave. [ 12]

According to the old custom in Shanghai, steamed cakes for sacrifice should be put on wicker and dried and stored. When they come in the long summer, they will be fried and given to the children. It is said that eating it in summer won't make you sick.

Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of eating dumplings. Mix Bromus inermis juice with glutinous rice to make the green juice and rice flour blend with each other, then wrap it with stuffing such as bean paste and jujube paste, and put it in a steamer with reed leaves as the bottom. Steamed balls are green in color and fragrant, which is the most distinctive seasonal food in Tomb-Sweeping Day. There are also some people in Shanghai, Tomb-Sweeping Day, who love to eat peach blossom porridge and fish with knives when sweeping graves and having family dinners.

In Huzhou, Zhejiang, every family in Tomb-Sweeping Day makes zongzi, which can be used as a grave-sweeping sacrifice or as dry food for hiking. As the saying goes: "Qingming Zongzi is real." Before and after Qingming, snails were fat and strong. As the saying goes: "Qingming

Snail, a goose. "Farmers have the habit of eating snails in Tomb-Sweeping Day. On this day, they use needles to pick out snail meat for cooking, which is called "picking green". After eating, throw the snail shell on the roof. It is said that the rolling acoustic energy emitted by roof tiles scares away mice, which is beneficial to sericulture after Qingming Festival. On this day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, there will be club wine. Have dinner with people from the same ancestral temple. People who don't have ancestral halls usually have dinner with the grandchildren of their great-grandfathers. The dishes in the country are mainly fish and tofu.

Vegetables are the mainstay, and home-brewed sweet white wine is the main wine. There is a saying in Heshan Town, Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province that "Tomb-Sweeping Day is like the New Year". Tomb-Sweeping Day evening, emphasizing family reunion for dinner. There are several traditional dishes on the table: fried snail, glutinous rice with lotus root slices, bean sprouts, Malantou and so on. These dishes are all related to sericulture. Throwing the leftover snail shells into the house, it is said that the sound can scare away the mice, and the caterpillars will get into the shells to nest and stop harassing the silkworms. Eating lotus root is the desire of silkworm babies to often spin silk.

Good again. Eating sprouted beans is a lottery to win "money". Eating fresh vegetables like Malantou means taking the word "green" to match the "green" of "Qingming".

During his stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, there was a folk custom of tug-of-war in China. Folklore experts say that tug-of-war is an ancient sport in China. It was originally a military training program, which rose in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. But at that time, it was not called tug of war, but called "pull hook" and "pull ring" It can not only exercise, but also play games.

The director of Tianjin Astronomical Society said that the ancient method of tug-of-war was recorded in Feng's Wen Jian Ji, which was performed by people in the Tang Dynasty: "In ancient times, bamboo rope was used, but now hemp rope is used, which is 40 to 50 feet long, and hundreds of small ropes are tied at both ends, which are divided into two friends and pulled in two directions. When you are in the middle of Dahuan, set up a banner as the boundary, beat drums to make you pull each other, let the giver win, and the loser is called tug of war. "

At that time, the form of tug-of-war was basically the same as today, except that the rope used for tug-of-war today was a single rope, while the rope used in ancient times was "hundreds of small ropes at both ends", so the number of people in ancient times was much larger than now, and the scene was bigger and more lively.

Tug of war is the most popular sport in Tang Dynasty. Zhao Zhi Heng said that Li Longji was not only a football fan, but also a tug-of-war enthusiast. He actively promoted tug-of-war training in the army. Due to the vigorous advocacy of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the tug-of-war became more and more prosperous and the scale became larger and larger. Finally, I moved from the pear garden in the palace to the square outside the palace.

"Tang Yulin" vividly recorded the biggest tug-of-war at that time: "More than a thousand people held hands and the audience was shocked." More than a thousand people tug of war, and the scene is magnificent. Even those foreign guests are attracted by this grand occasion and are amazed.