The origin and customs of Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The Origin and Legend of Tomb-Sweeping Day

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 the days of Qingming and cold food approached, cold food was the day when people banned fire to sweep graves. Gradually, cold food and Qingming became one, and cold food became another name of Qingming and became a custom of Qingming. On Qingming Day, there are no fireworks, only cold food.

There is a legend about cold food:

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jin Xiangong's concubine made a vicious plot against 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 famous 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 (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 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 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 into the shape of a swallow, strung with willows and inserted in the door to summon his soul. This thing is called "pushing swallows" (also called intermediary pushing). 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 put wicker in a circle and put wicker branches in front of the house to show their memory.

In March and April, when spring is bright, pink and green, one of the most important festivals in China's traditional customs is Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day is now a national grave-sweeping festival. According to Sunday, it is around April 5, and according to the lunar calendar, it is the first half of March. The ancients divided a year into 24 solar terms and used this calendar to sow and harvest. Qingming is one of the twenty-four solar terms, fifteen days after the vernal equinox. According to the saying of "always asking questions": "Everything is long, clean and bright at this time. So it is called Qingming. " Therefore, "Tomb-Sweeping Day" was originally a solar term. Later, the custom of forbidding cold food and fire and beating graves was added, and Tomb-Sweeping Day was formed.

Originally, the Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day were two different festivals. In the Tang Dynasty, the day of sweeping graves was designated as the Cold Food Festival. The day of the Cold Food Festival is the first day from winter to the future 105, around Qingming, so Qingming and the Cold Food Festival are combined!

The custom of offering sacrifices to ancestors in front of graves originated in China very early. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people attached great importance to tombs. Mencius' article about Qi people in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States Period also mentioned a ridiculed Qi person, who often went to the tomb of Dongguo to beg and offer sacrifices to the tomb. However, slapping tombs was very popular during the Warring States period. When he arrived in Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, Xia Shao designated the cold food tomb as one of the "five rites" at that time. Therefore, whenever Tomb-Sweeping Day comes, "the fields and roads are full of scholars and women, and the servants of soap merchants are beggars, and they all get their parents' graves." (Liu Zongyuan's Book with Xu Jingzhao) Grave sweeping has become an important social custom.

In the cold winter, it is forbidden to make a fire to eat cold food, for fear that some old, weak women and children can't stand the cold. In order to prevent cold food and cold food from harming their health, outdoor activities such as hiking, outing, swinging, playing football, playing polo, inserting willows, tug of war, fighting cocks, etc. They are all set up to let everyone come out to bask in the sun, exercise their bones and muscles and increase their resistance. Therefore, in addition to ancestor worship and grave-sweeping, there are various outdoor fitness activities in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which make this festival not only have emotional appeal, but also have a joyful atmosphere of spring outing. There are both sad and sour tears in Where Are You Going, and vivid and bright scenes everywhere. This is really a very special festival.

It is one of the 24 solar terms in China. Because the 24 solar terms objectively reflect the changes of temperature, rainfall and phenology throughout the year, ancient working people used them to arrange agricultural activities. Huainanzi? Astronomical training says: "On the 15th day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to B, and the Qingming wind is coming." According to the centenarian question, "everything grows clean and bright at this time." So it's called Qingming. "As soon as Qingming arrives, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good time for spring ploughing and spring planting. Therefore, there is an agricultural proverb that "before and after Qingming, point melons and plant beans" and "planting trees is not as good as Qingming". It can be seen that this solar term is closely related to agricultural production.

However, Qingming, as a festival, is different from pure solar terms. Solar terms are symbols of phenological changes and seasonal order in China, while festivals contain certain customs and activities, which have certain commemorative significance.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, and it is also the most important festival to worship ancestors and sweep graves. Grave-sweeping is commonly known as going to the grave and offering sacrifices to the dead. Most Han people and some ethnic minorities visit graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

According to the old custom, when sweeping graves, people should bring food, wine, fruit, paper money and other items to the cemetery, offer food to the graves of their loved ones, then burn the paper money, cultivate new soil for the graves, break some green branches and insert them in front of the graves, then kowtow and worship, and finally go home after eating and drinking. The poem Qingming written by Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, said: "There are many rains during the Qingming period, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Ask local people where to buy wine? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village. " Write about the special atmosphere in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

To this day, the custom of worshipping ancestors and mourning the dead relatives in Tomb-Sweeping Day is still very popular.

Grave-sweeping in Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival custom related to funeral customs. According to records, in ancient times, "tombs were not graves", that is to say, only graves were dug and graves were not built, so sacrifices were not recorded. Later, graves and graves, the custom of offering sacrifices to sweep graves, were supported. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, tomb sacrifice has become an indispensable ritual activity.

Hanshu. According to Yan Yannian's biography, although he is thousands of miles away from Beijing, his family will "return to the East China Sea Cemetery" in Qingming. Yan Yannian's behavior is reasonable in terms of the development and strengthening of ancestor worship and consanguinity consciousness of China people. Therefore, the tomb sacrifices that were not included in the norms in ancient times were also included in the Five Rites: "It is appropriate for a scholar to go to the grave and be included in the Five Rites, and it will always be a routine." With the official affirmation, the wind of tomb sacrifice is bound to prevail.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is a festival in memory of ancestors. The main memorial ceremony is to sweep the grave, which is a concrete embodiment of being cautious in pursuing the future, caring for the family and filial piety. Based on the above significance, Tomb-Sweeping Day has become an important festival for China people.

Tomb-Sweeping Day is at the turn of mid-spring and late spring, that is, 106 days after the winter solstice. Grave-sweeping activities are usually held 10 days before or 10 days after Tomb-Sweeping Day. Some people in their hometown have been sweeping graves for a month.

Commemorative way

Tomb-Sweeping Day commemorates his ancestors in many ways:

Grave-sweeping is the earliest custom in Tomb-Sweeping Day, which continues to this day and is gradually simplified with the progress of society. On the day of grave-sweeping, the descendants first pruned the graves of their ancestors and the weeds around them, and then offered food and flowers.

As the cremation of human remains is becoming more and more common, the custom of sweeping graves is gradually replaced by the way of offering sacrifices to ancestors with ashes.

Chinese Singaporeans also set up a main card for the dead in the temple, and the temple has thus become a place to worship ancestors in Qingming.

On that day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, some families also worshipped their ancestors at home.

On this day in Tomb-Sweeping Day, you can bow silently in front of ancestors' graves, places where ashes are placed or temples.

No matter what form of commemoration, the most basic ceremony in Tomb-Sweeping Day is to remember the ancestors in front of the grave, where the ashes are placed or in front of the coffin. In order to make the ceremony of commemorating ancestors more meaningful, we should let the younger generation of family members know about the past struggle history of our ancestors.

Tomb-Sweeping Day custom

Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs are rich and interesting. In addition to paying attention to the prohibition of fire to sweep graves, there are a series of customs and sports activities such as jogging, swinging, cuju, playing polo and inserting willows. According to legend, this is because Tomb-Sweeping Day wants to ban cold food and fire. In order to prevent the harm of cold food and cold meal to people, we all take part in some sports activities to exercise. Therefore, this festival is a distinctive festival, with both sad tears to sweep graves and laughter for an outing.

play on the swing

This is the custom of ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day in China. Swing, that is, lift the rope, move. It has a very long history. It was originally called Qian Qiu, but later it was changed into a swing to avoid taboos. In ancient times, swings were made of branches and tied with ribbons. Later, it gradually developed into two ropes, a pedal swing. Playing swing can not only improve health, but also cultivate courage, which is deeply loved by people, especially children.

play football

Bow is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju is kicking the ball with your feet. This is a popular game in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day. According to legend, it was invented by the Yellow Emperor with the original purpose of training warriors.

spring outing

Also called spring outing. It was called Tanchun and Xunchun in ancient times. March is clear, spring returns to the earth, and nature is full of vitality everywhere, which is a good time to go for an outing. People in our country have always maintained the habit of going for an outing in Qingming.

plant trees

Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, the spring is bright, the spring is bright, and the spring rain is falling. The planted seedlings have high survival rate and fast growth. Therefore, China has the habit of planting trees in Qingming since ancient times. Some people even call Tomb-Sweeping Day Arbor Day. The custom of planting trees has been passed down to this day. 1979, the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) stipulated March 12 every year as China's Arbor Day. This is of great significance to mobilize people of all ethnic groups in China to actively carry out activities to green the motherland.

fly a kite

It is also Tomb-Sweeping Day's favorite activity. During their stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, people not only wore it during the day, but also at night. At night, a string of colored lanterns is hung under the kite or on the wind-stabilizing stay, like twinkling stars, which is called "magic lamp". Someone used to put kites in the blue sky, then cut the strings and let the breeze send them to the ends of the earth. It is said that this can eliminate diseases and disasters and bring good luck to yourself.

Pay tribute to the dead at their graves.

Sweeping graves on Qingming Festival is called "respecting thinking about time" for ancestors. Its customs have a long history. In the Ming Dynasty's "A Brief Introduction to the Scenery of the Imperial Capital", it was written: "On the Qingming Festival in March, men and women visited graves and paid tribute to them, and gold ingots were hung behind sedan chairs, making noise all over the street. Worshipers, mourners, weeping, weeding, adding soil to graves, burning ingots several times, and buying graves with paper money. If you can't see the paper money, it will be a lonely grave. After crying, don't go back, go to the fragrant tree, choose the garden, and sit down and get drunk. " In fact, grave-sweeping existed before the Qin Dynasty, but not necessarily during the Qingming period, but after the Qin Dynasty. It was not until the Tang Dynasty that it became popular. Qing thomas lee said, "On New Year's Eve, the Cold Food Festival and the First Frost Festival, you should offer sacrifices to sweep the graves. During the period, I will serve my bed with vegetarian food, use wine and tools for cutting vegetation, seal trees in the middle of the week, and break Cao Jing, so it is called sweeping the grave. " And spread to this day.

Tomb-Sweeping Day's sweeping ceremony was supposed to be held in person, but because of the different economic conditions of each family, the way of sweeping was different. "Burning a bundle" is the main form of paying homage to ancestors. The so-called "baggage", also known as "parcel", refers to the postal parcel that Xiao sent from Shi Yang to the underworld. In the past, Nanzhi store sold the so-called "wrapped skin", that is, a big bag was pasted with white paper. There are two forms: one is a woodcut version with Sanskrit transliteration of "Death Mantra" printed around it, and a lotus memorial tablet printed in the middle with the name of the deceased who received the money, such as "The late Zhang Fujun was afraid of the boss in Yunshan", which is both a package and a memorial tablet. The other is plain foreskin, which does not print any patterns. Just put a blue sign in the middle and write down the name of the deceased. Also used as a master card. There are many kinds of money in the bag. First burn paper, nine k white paper, and smash four rows of round money, five for each row; Second, Mingbi, which is copied after foreign currency tickets are available in the world, is written with the words "Paradise Bank", "Ghost Bank" and "Hell Bank", with a pattern of □ capital, mostly with a huge face value, and a Buddhist "death curse" printed on the back; 3. Fake foreign currency, with cardboard as the core and wrapped in silver foil, suppressing the same pattern as the prevailing silver dollar at that time; Fourth, the "death curse" printed in red on yellow paper is round money, so it is also called "death money"; Five, with gold foil and silver foil stacked ingots, hammers, and some string into a string, with a colored paper ear at the bottom. In the old society, no matter rich or poor, there was a burning burden. On that day, a confession case was set up in the ancestral hall or the main room of the family house, with the luggage in the middle. In front of it, there are offerings such as jiaozi, cakes and fruits, burning incense and holding candles. After the whole family salutes according to their generations, they can be incinerated outside the door. When incinerating, draw a big circle and leave a gap in the direction of the cemetery. Burning three or five pieces of paper outside the circle is called "special delivery."

Some rich people want to take their families and their families to the grave to pay homage. At this time, it is necessary to repair the grave, or symbolically add soil to the grave and put some paper money on it to let others see and know that there are descendants in this grave. After the sacrifice, some people sat around to eat and drink; Others fly kites and even compete with each other for entertainment. Women and children will also fold some Yang Liuzhi nearby and put on steamed food with wicker. Others put wicker into reeds and put them on their heads, saying, "If you don't wear willow in Qingming Festival, you will become a yellow dog in the afterlife." This is a grave-sweeping and an outing. You can't go home until you are happy.

Chuanliuzhi

It is said that the custom of inserting willows is also 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. During the period of Huang Chao, it was stipulated that "Qingming lasts for a period, and Liu Dai is the number". After the failure of the uprising, the custom of wearing willow was gradually eliminated, and only willow was popular. 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 planted in the soil, and it lives where it is planted. When it is planted year after year, it becomes gloomy everywhere.

There is another saying in Tomb-Sweeping Day: It turns out that China people regard Tomb-Sweeping Day, July 30th and the first day of October as the three major ghost festivals, which are the time for ghosts to haunt and ask for help. In order to prevent the harassment and persecution of ghosts, people put willows and put them on. Willow has the function of ward off evil spirits in people's minds. Influenced by Buddhism, people think that willows can exorcise ghosts and call them "ghost trees". Guanyin dipped willow branches in water to help all beings. Jia Sixie of the Northern Wei Dynasty said in the Book of Qi Yao Min: "Take a willow branch and put it on the house, and a hundred ghosts will not enter the house." Tomb-Sweeping Day is a ghost festival. When wicker sprouted, people naturally inserted willows to ward off evil spirits.

The Han people have the custom of "folding willows to bid farewell": Baqiao is in Chang 'an East, crossing the water is the bridge, and the Han people send guests to this bridge and fold willows to bid farewell. Li Bai has a saying: "Willow falls every year, Lingling hurts." In ancient times, on both sides of Chang 'an Baqiao, the embankment was ten miles long, one step at a time. Many people who walk from Chang 'an East come here to bid farewell to their loved ones and fold willow branches to bid farewell to their loved ones, because "willow" is homophonic with "stay" to show the meaning of retaining. This custom originated from the Book of Songs. Xiaoya. "I have been there, Yangliuyiyi" in "Picking Wei". Send a willow tree as a parting gift to express feelings that are inseparable and reluctant to part. Willow is a symbol of spring. Willow swaying in spring always gives people a feeling of prosperity. "Farewell to the Willows" contains the wish that "spring is always there". The ancients sawed off the willows and sent them to each other, which also meant that their relatives, such as willow branches, left their hometown. I hope that when they arrive in a new place, they can take root and sprout quickly, as if willow branches can grow everywhere. It's a good wish for friends. There are also many references to folding willows to give people away in ancient poems. Quan Deyu's poem in Tang Dynasty: "Give me new knowledge", Song Dynasty's poem: "There are no green willows on the other side of the road, don't worry", and Ming Dynasty's poem: "Give someone away when you are old, and the willows on the edge of the city will be folded." Chen Weisong's Ci in Qing Dynasty: "How many border crossings are left? Want a discount. " People will not only feel sad when they see willow trees, but also touch their mood when they hear the song "Breaking Willow". Li Bai's "Smelling the flute in Los Angeles on a Spring Night": "Everyone can't stand the homesickness." In fact, Liu can have many symbolic meanings. The ancients endowed Liu with various feelings, so it is reasonable to borrow Liu to send feelings.

Foreign "Tomb-Sweeping Day"

Syrian Martyrs' Day on May 6th. That night, government officials hosted a banquet in honor of the relatives of the martyrs.

May 30th is the "Memorial Day" in most American states.

In August, there is a Magnolia Festival in July and August of the Japanese lunar calendar. Institutions, enterprises and institutions have a three-day holiday, and city people go back to their hometowns to worship their ancestors and sweep graves.

On September 1 day, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Tunisia, also known as Heroes' Day, commemorates the martyrs who died in the struggle for independence.

65438+1October 3 1 Mexico Day for the Dead (also translated as All Souls' Day), at night, people wear exotic costumes and masks handed down by their ancestors, singing and dancing to their ancestors' spirits. According to legend, this originated from Indian customs.

1 65438+1October1French All Souls Festival. People not only pay homage to their ancestors, but also offer flowers to the monument of the Paris Commune.

Tomb-Sweeping Day eats spring vegetables best.

Qingming-includes the meaning of sunny weather, fresh air, gradually warming climate and lush vegetation.

Qingming interpretation:

① Clear and bright: the moonlit night is clear.

2 awake: conscious.

(3) Political openness, strict discipline and orderly: the world is cold | born in the cold world.

④ One of the twenty-four solar terms. On April 4th or 5th and 6th every year, folk customs sweep graves on this day: it rains in succession during the Qingming Festival.

Dietary customs in Tomb-Sweeping Day

April 5th in the Gregorian calendar is one of the traditional festivals in China, Tomb-Sweeping Day, with a history of more than 2,500 years. Besides sweeping graves to worship ancestors, Tomb-Sweeping Day's food customs are also rich and colorful.

Eat green jiaozi.

During his stay in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Jiangnan had the custom of eating green jiaozi. Green jiaozi is to mash a wild plant called "Pulp Wheat Straw" to squeeze out juice, then mix this juice with dry pure glutinous rice flour, and then wrap it in jiaozi. Jiaozi's stuffing is exquisite sugar bean paste, and a small piece of sugar lard is added when filling. Jiaozi cooked it and steamed it in a cage. When they come out, brush the cooked vegetable oil evenly on the surface of jiaozi, and you're done. Green glutinous rice balls, green as jade, sticky and soft, fragrant, sweet but not greasy, fat but not full. Green jiaozi is also a necessary food for people to sacrifice their ancestors in Jiangnan area. Because of this, green jiaozi is particularly important in the folk food customs in the south of the Yangtze River.

Eat prickly heat

Tomb-Sweeping Day has the custom of eating prickly heat in both north and south of China. "Zanzi" is a kind of fried food, crisp and delicate, and was called "cold ware" in ancient times. The custom of forbidding fire and cold in the Cold Food Festival is not popular in most parts of China, but the prickly heat related to this festival is deeply loved by the world. The prickly heat that is popular in Han areas is different from the north and the south: the prickly heat in the north is generous and free, with wheat flour as the main material; The southern prickly heat is exquisitely made, mainly rice and flour. In ethnic minority areas, there are many kinds of prickly heat with different flavors, especially in Uygur, Dongxiang, Naxi and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Eat Qingming snail

Tomb-Sweeping Day is the best time to eat snails. Because at this time, the snails have not yet propagated, and they are the most plump and plump, so there is a saying that "the snails in Qingming are worth a goose". Snails can be eaten in many ways. They can be fried with onion, ginger, soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar. You can also cook, pick snail meat, mix, drink, rot and simmer. If you eat properly, it can really be called "a snail is not worth a thousand things, and wine is not as good as food."

In addition, both the north and the south of China have the custom of eating nutritious food such as eggs, cakes, sandwich cakes, Qingming zongzi, steamed cakes, Qingming cakes and dry porridge in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

The story of a youth league is clear. Why do you want to eat a youth league?

Shanghainese had the custom of eating Youth League before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day, which can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago. According to "Zhou Li", there is a law that "Muduo is forbidden to burn in the fire in mid-spring", so people put out cooking and "eat cold food for three days". The cold food period, that is, one or two days before the name is unknown, is also designated as the "Cold Day".

The traditional foods of the ancient Cold Food Festival include glutinous rice cheese, wheat cheese, almond cheese, etc. You can prepare for the Cold Food Festival in advance, and you don't need to make a fire to cook.

Nowadays, some dumplings are made of green wormwood, and some are made of Bromus inermis juice and glutinous rice flour, stuffed with bean paste. It has been circulated for more than a hundred years, and it is still an old face. People use it to pay homage to their ancestors, but it is more important to try new things, and the function of the Youth League as a sacrifice is weakening day by day.

"Remembering food" returns to the people's table

Practice: Use wormwood (a kind of wild grass), rice and glutinous rice to make leather. The green of white rice flour and wormwood immediately turned bright green, and then wrapped in bean paste. After steaming in the pot, the clear fruit is green and cake-shaped, with a round bamboo leaf under it (pine is more fragrant and healthier for my family). The snacks are fragrant and look more like a piece of jade.

Experts teach you to eat green balls.

Professor Ding from the Department of Internal Medicine of Ruijin Hospital told reporters that there are doorways to eat dumplings. If eaten improperly, it may also affect your health.

Four types of people should avoid eating green balls. First, old people and children are definitely not suitable for eating green balls. Because glutinous rice, the main material for making green balls, is an extremely difficult food to digest. Old people and children have poor digestive function. For them, eating green balls will undoubtedly make the digestive system "worse"; Second, patients with pancreatitis and gastritis are strictly forbidden to eat green balls, because the glutinous rice in the green balls will lead to the recurrence of these inflammations or the deterioration of their condition; Third, diabetics don't eat green balls, which contain a lot of sugar. Now, the sugar content of the new green ball introduced by merchants is "increasing day by day", and eating green balls by diabetics will undoubtedly aggravate the condition; Fourth, patients with cholecystitis and gallstones should not eat green balls, because indigestion may aggravate the condition.

Pay attention to four points when eating green meatballs: First, you must heat them before eating. Because the glutinous rice in the green ball is easy to reverse after cooling, it is extremely unfavorable for digestion, and the nutritional structure inside will also be destroyed; Second, it is best to eat with bamboo shoots or Malantou. Eating these foods together can accelerate the digestion and nutrient absorption of the young group; Third, never mix with fat. The indigestible food like glutinous rice, if mixed with oil, will increase the burden on the stomach and easily cause indigestion. Fourth, it is best to eat some foods that help digestion, such as hawthorn. Because these foods can reduce the digestive burden of glutinous rice such as green balls in the gastrointestinal tract, which is conducive to the absorption of green balls in the body.

Different places in Tomb-Sweeping Day have different dietary customs:

Qingming Black Rice of She Nationality in Fujian

"It rains in succession during the Qingming Festival". As soon as the rain stopped, there were more people carrying baskets to pay homage to their ancestors. The time limit for ancestor worship and grave sweeping in Fujian and Taiwan provinces ranges from Qingming to Grain Rain. In Ningde, Zhouning, Shouning and other places in eastern Fujian, most ancestral graves are for the whole family to worship their ancestors, and recently family dinners have been held in ancestral halls. At that time, men, women and children arrived, which was a unique happy reunion in eastern Fujian.

Mustard rice

During the Qingming Festival, most places in eastern Fujian, both urban and rural, have the custom of eating pickled mustard tuber. It is said that eating mustard rice mixed with rice on February 2 every year can prevent scabies all year round. There is also the custom of cooking loach noodles for ancestors on March 3. Moreover, during this period, in many urban and rural areas in eastern Fujian, you can also eat a kind of food with the characteristics of eastern Fujian, that is, spring chrysanthemum and golden cherry blossoms are mixed into ground rice slurry and baked into seasonal snacks, which is quite rural.

black kerneled rice

In addition, regarding the Qingming diet custom, we can't help but mention the "black rice" of the She nationality, because eastern Fujian is the settlement of the She nationality. On the third day of March every year, every household of the She nationality cooks "black rice" and presents it to relatives and friends of the Han nationality. Over time, the local Han people also have the custom of eating "black rice" in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Especially in Kurong County, people sacrifice "black rice" every year, which shows that China has been a big family where all ethnic groups live in harmony since ancient times.

Qingming fruit

Every time I go to Tomb-Sweeping Day, every household has to make a kind of food called Qingming fruit, which is used to sweep graves and worship ancestors. However, in my memory, the arrival of Tomb-Sweeping Day means that I can repay the clear fruit with green fragrance.

The shape of Qingming fruit is a bit like jiaozi, but its taste is quite different. The epidermis of Qingming fruit is made of a plant called Artemisia argyi, a perennial herb with small yellow flowers and leaves as small as compositae, which are covered with awnings and clusters. Every year before Tomb-Sweeping Day, women come to the fields to pick mugwort leaves in groups of three or five, holding bamboo greens in their hands. Fresh mugwort leaves are piled up in baskets, which is really attractive. After Ai Yecai returned home, he began the complicated process of making Qing Guo. A woman is like a masseur. Green absinthe turns into delicious transparent fruit in the blink of an eye.

I was particularly curious when I was a child. It's obviously grass. How did it become a clear fruit later? Grandma, they are too lazy to talk to me, so let me see it. They mashed mugwort leaves and mixed them with rice flour. White rice noodles meet green mugwort juice and suddenly turn into turquoise powder balls, which are tender and slippery, or semi-finished products, making my mouth water. The skin of Qingming fruit is well made, and the stuffing is also very particular. People with good conditions are more diverse and refined. There are mustard powder smoked fat sausage, dried leeks and tofu, and other delicious combinations, but no matter what stuffing is indispensable, the fruit made in this way feels delicious and enjoyable. Noodles and stuffing are ready, and the last step is to wrap fruit. This kind of fruit wrapping is similar to jiaozi wrapping, but the clear fruit wrapping seems to be more delicate. It is folded like lace, green and transparent, so cute. It is also a pleasure to watch them wrap the clear fruit, just like a work of art flying out of their hands. Neatly packed transparent fruit made me swallow DC's saliva and wait patiently for the steaming moment.

Folium Artemisiae Argyi is green every year, and the fruit is fragrant every year. Villagers miss their relatives and friends in the city, and Tomb-Sweeping Day always sends us his own clear fruit. Family and food are still unforgettable. Time has passed, and Qingming fruit is no longer the simple meaning of Qingming ancestor worship. It contains deep affection and pure homesickness. Now, when I think of the green fruit, I will feel faint homesickness and sweet memories from the bottom of my heart.

Another Tomb-Sweeping Day. Because of work, I can't go back to my hometown to sweep my grandparents' graves, but my parents brought back Qingming fruit from my hometown. Seeing fruit is like seeing people, thinking of the scene of villagers clearing fruit together. That kind of harmony, that kind of nature, that kind of intimacy is so warm and beautiful, but these are hard to find in cities and today's materialistic society. Only this green and fragrant fruit is still full of temptation and intriguing.

During the Qingming Festival, it rained one after another, Ai Guo was soft and homesick, and the spring breeze accompanied her dreams to go home, and there was smoke at the head of the village.

Every time in Tomb-Sweeping Day, Quanzhou people have the custom of eating "cake-moistening dishes". It is said that this is the legacy of the ancient Cold Food Festival.

The proper noun of "cake-moistening dish" should be spring cake. Tomb-Sweeping Day's eating moist cakes is not only unique to Quanzhou, but also popular among Xiamen people. According to legend, Cai, governor of Yunnan, Guizhou and Huguang in Ming Dynasty, was the pioneer of this way of eating. At that time, it was under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou government, so this way of eating spread and became a famous product in southern Fujian. However, the forms of spring cakes in different parts of southern Fujian are the same, but the contents are quite different.

Quanzhou's "cake-moistening dish" is baked with flour into thin skin, commonly known as "cake-moistening" or "cake-smearing". Spread out the skin when eating, and then roll in shredded carrots, shredded pork, fried clams, kohlrabi and other mixed dishes. It is simple to make and tastes sweet and delicious. Jinjiang's "cake-moistening dish" is much more complicated, and the main ingredients of that bag of "cake-moistening dish" must be varied and filled with a table. There are some main courses: peas, bean sprouts, dried beans, fish balls, shrimps, diced meat, fried oysters and radish dishes. There are also some ingredients: crispy seaweed, shredded fried eggs, peanut seasoning, radish and shredded garlic. When eating, you must have two "cake skins" to ensure that they are not broken by rich content. This kind of crisp, sweet, mellow and beautiful food is enough for ordinary people.

However, as far as I know, the "cake-moistening dish" in Jinjiang is not the most complicated; In terms of complexity, Xiamen should be the most important. The main ingredients used in Jinjiang are all from Xiamen. In addition, add bamboo shoots, fish, fried flat fish and fried leeks, and then dip in mustard, hot sauce and sweet sauce. This is the authentic "pancake" in Xiamen.

Green cheese and ring cake

Jing Qing fan tuimo