What is the origin of Qingming Festival? On what date in the lunar calendar is Qingming celebrated?

The Origin of Ming-Sweeping Festival Qingming Festival, also known as Outing Festival, Tomb Sweeping Festival and Smart Day, is a traditional festival in my country. In traditional customs, every March or April, people pay most attention to the Qingming Festival. The Qingming Festival falls every year in early March of the lunar calendar, around April 5th of the Gregorian calendar. It is a traditional Chinese festival that commemorates the past. Every Qingming Festival, there are many customary activities, including paying homage to graves, outings, planting willows, etc. The word "Qingming" is explained in ancient books: "Everything is now pure and clear"; other books also have "Tongs begin to bloom, rainbows begin to appear, and duckweeds begin to grow", "The Qingming wind resides in the southeast, and the main wind blows All things”. The Qingming Festival symbolizes the Yellow River Basin in my country. The cold winter withered trees has passed, and the sunny spring has arrived. At this time, the harsh winter when everything is sleeping has passed, and spring has arrived when everything is renewed. There are clear and bright scenes of bright spring and budding vegetation everywhere. Working people arrange their crops according to the solar terms. Among the twenty-four solar terms, there is a saying that "you are busy planting wheat during the Qingming Festival, and you are busy planting fields during the Grain Rain". From the perspective of the Chinese calendar, Qingming originally refers to one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar and is a sign of climate change. The twenty-four solar terms are the calculation method of seasonal changes and climate changes in the lunar calendar. my country's earliest solar calendar and "Guoli·Chunguan" clearly describe the most basic constants of the astronomical calendar that "winter and summer correspond to the sun, and spring and autumn correspond to the moon, so as to distinguish the four seasons." After the agricultural society, working people discovered that the day, month, and year constitute the three elements of the calendar. The 24 solar terms were basically formed during the Qin and Han Dynasties more than 2,000 years ago. The 24 solar terms combine the knowledge of astronomy and meteorology, and compose the song "Spring rain shocks the spring and clears the valley, the summer is full of awns and the summer heat is connected. The dew in autumn is cold and frost falls, and there is snow in winter and a small cold in winter." Among them, Qingming is ranked fifth among the songs. It is also the fifth solar term in the lunar calendar. At this time, the weather gets warmer, the earth returns to spring, everything revives, and everything is full of vitality. It is written in "Hundred Questions of the Years": "Everything grows clean and bright at this time, so it is called Qingming." When Qingming comes, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is a good time for spring plowing and spring planting. Therefore, there are farmers' proverbs like "Before and after Qingming, order melons and plant beans" and "Afforestation is better than Qingming." It can be seen that this solar term is closely related to agricultural production. Therefore, Qingming was originally a farming festival, and there was no custom of tomb-sweeping. The custom of tomb-sweeping was formed and related to the Cold Food Festival. Cold Food Festival, also known as Cooked Food Festival, No-Smoking Festival, and Cold Festival. Its date is one hundred and five days before the winter solstice, which is only one or two days before Qingming. The main custom of this festival is the ban on fire. No fire is allowed for cooking, and only prepared cooked food and cold food can be eaten, hence the name. The Cold Food Festival commemorates Jie Zitui, a virtuous minister of Duke Wen of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. During the Spring and Autumn Period, civil strife broke out in the Jin court. Li Ji, the half-brother and stepmother of Prince Chong'er of Jin, wanted to get rid of him and seize his throne. In order to escape their persecution, the Jin prince Chong'er went into exile, along with his loyal minister Jie Zitui and others. One day, they got lost in the mountains and ran out of food and help. Jie Zitui then cut off the meat from his thigh and cooked it into soup to quench Chong'er's hunger. Chong'er was very moved. Nineteen years later, Chong'er returned to Jin and became the king of the country, known as Duke Wen of Jin in history. At that time, in order to commend the ministers for their assistance, he rewarded them based on their merits, but he forgot about Jie Zitui. Jie Zitui was a man of noble character. He did not ask for credit or reward. Instead, he quietly returned to his hometown, took his mother and lived in seclusion in Mianshan. Duke Wen of Jin felt regretful and sent someone to ask Jiezi to push out of the mountain. Jie Zitui refused. Later, Duke Wen of Jin wanted to burn the mountain to force Jie Zitui to come out and receive the reward, but he accidentally burned Jie Zitui and his mother to death. Duke Wen of Jin was very sad. To express his condolences, he ordered the two men to be buried under a big willow tree and renamed Mianshan "Jieshan". At the same time, it is stipulated that on this day every year, it is forbidden to light fires and only eat cold food to commemorate Jie Zitui. This is the "Cold Food Festival". At that time, people brought food to the tomb of Jie Zitui to sweep the tomb and offer sacrifices to commemorate him, so the Cold Food Festival was formed to sweep the tomb. Cold Food Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Festival were originally two festivals. Because the dates were similar, in the Tang Dynasty, the two festivals were combined into one. As a result, the custom of sweeping tombs during the Qingming Festival emerged. In fact, the real origin of the Cold Food Festival stems from the ancient practice of drilling wood and seeking new fires. The ancients used different trees to make fires due to different seasons, and had the custom of changing fires according to the seasons. And every time you change the fire, you have to get a new fire. People are prohibited from lighting fires until new fires arrive. This was a big deal at the time. "Zhou Li·Qiu Guan·Si Xuanshi" says: "In the middle spring, fire was banned in the country with a wooden dou." It can be seen that at that time, he was walking on the street shaking his wooden sword and ordered a ban on fire. This Si Xuan clan is a small official who specializes in making fire. During the ban on fire, people prepared some cold food for consumption, which gradually became a fixed custom. Later, it was connected with the legend of Jie Zitui and became the Cold Food Festival, which lasted for a month. After all, this is not good for health. Later, the date was shortened and gradually changed from seven days to three days to one day. After the Tang Dynasty, it was integrated into the Qingming Festival. There is another saying about tomb-sweeping during Qingming Festival. According to legend, at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, and Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, fought for several rounds and finally conquered the world. When he returned to his hometown gloriously, he wanted to go to his parents' graves to worship, but due to years of war, the graves were covered with weeds, and the tombstones were tilted here and there, some were broken, and some were cracked, making them unrecognizable. The words on the monument. Liu Bang was very sad. Although his subordinates helped him look through all the tombstones, they still could not find his parents' graves until dusk.

Finally, Liu Bang took out a piece of paper from his sleeve, tore it into many small pieces with his hands, held it tightly in his hand, and then prayed to God: "My father and mother have spirits in heaven. The wind is blowing so hard now, I will Throw these small pieces of paper into the air. If the piece of paper falls in a place where the wind cannot blow it, it will be the grave of your parents." After that, Liu Bang threw the piece of paper into the air, and sure enough, a piece of paper landed on a tomb. No matter how hard the wind blew, it couldn't move. Liu Bang ran over and took a closer look at the blurred tombstone, and sure enough he saw his parents' names engraved on it. Liu Bang was so happy that he immediately asked someone to renovate his parents' tombs. From then on, he would visit his parents' tombs every year during Qingming Festival. Later, like Liu Bang, the common people went to the tombs of their ancestors to worship every year during the Qingming Festival, and pressed a few pieces of paper on the tombs with small clods of soil, indicating that the tombs were cleaned by someone. According to ancient records, the ritual activity of tomb sweeping has already appeared in the Qin and Han Dynasties. At that time, the tomb-sweeping ceremony was very solemn, including placing offerings, decorating the tomb, burning incense and paper, and even planting pines and cypresses on the tomb to express condolences. On the day of tomb-sweeping, except for the elders, every family goes out of the city to sweep the tomb. Even the shepherd boys drove the cattle down the mountain for fear of hindering others from visiting the graves. People in foreign lands will also visit their hometowns to pay homage to their ancestors. Tomb sweeping is also called tomb offering, sacrificial sweeping, and grave visiting. Tomb sweeping during the Qingming Festival is because the Waking of Insects and the Spring Equinox have passed, the ice and snow have melted, and vegetation has sprouted. People think about the tombs of their ancestors, whether foxes and rabbits burrowed through them, and whether they will collapse due to the arrival of the rainy season. Therefore, they go to the tombs to On the one hand, we clear the weeds, trim the branches, and add a few shovels of soil to the grave; on the other hand, we prepare some sacrifices, burn some paper money, hang some notes on the branches, and hold a simple sweeping ceremony to show our respect for the deceased. Miss you. Since tomb-sweeping is a concrete manifestation of being careful about the past, maintaining family ties, and practicing filial piety, based on the above significance, Tomb-Sweeping Day has become an important festival for the Chinese. Tomb-sweeping activities usually take place 10 days before or 10 days after Qingming Festival. Some locals' tomb-sweeping activities last for a month. Ancestor worship activities of the Chinese nation are often carried out in the countryside. People combine tomb sweeping with outings to cultivate their sentiments and promote physical and mental health. In ancient times, there was a custom of outing on February and March 3rd. "On February 2nd, the river went up, and the east wind blew the sheng." "On March 3rd, the weather was new, and there were many beautiful people by the water in Chang'an." They describe the grand outing scene of the Tang Dynasty people. In ancient times, on this day, people would gather with relatives and friends, support the elderly and the young, take advantage of the great spring weather to go for an outing in the countryside, and then sit around for a picnic and return at dusk. When people sweep tombs or return home from an outing, they are willing to pick a few wild flowers and wear them on their heads, and break a few willow sticks and insert them in front of and behind their houses. It is said that this custom is to commemorate the founder of farmers, Shennong, who "taught the people how to farm". Later, it gradually developed into a wish to commemorate and hope for a long life. The custom of wearing willows has been eliminated, but inserting willows has become popular, and it has become the Arbor Day for our people's spring afforestation. There are also many traditional and colorful cultural and sports activities spread around the Qingming Festival, such as tug-of-war, swinging, kite flying, playing polo, cockfighting and other activities. The customs of Qingming Festival are rich and colorful, and the records of past dynasties are very numerous. The poet's works in the Qingming Dynasty are even more spectacular and unforgettable. The Jia family attaches great importance to the Qingming activities in "A Dream of Red Mansions" and regards gathering herbs, flying kites, and swinging as an important part of the activities, which fully reflects the important position of Qingming activities in folk customs. In these senses, Qingming is both a solar term and a traditional festival. It’s an opportunity to express your condolences. Today, commemorating the revolutionary martyrs at the martyrs’ cemetery has added a lot of content to the Qingming Festival. Young people from all over the country come in groups to pay tribute to the martyrs’ cemetery, or invite the revolutionary ancestors to give reports, tell revolutionary stories, or organize visits and trips. , visiting scenic spots and collecting specimens enriched the content of the festival. In addition, while worshiping the Yan and Huang ancestors, we also mourn our ancestors and remember the great achievements of the martyrs, which is of great significance in today's Qingming activities. Reminiscing about loved ones and expressing condolences are inherently tender things. However, when burning incense on the streets and burning money beside graves caused fires that affected the appearance of the city, Qingming has become no longer Qingming. What’s more, villas, Mercedes-Benz, Xiaomi and even Viagra have also become sacrificial items, making Qingming Festival almost a farce. At the same time, new non-polluting and harmless sacrificial methods such as online sacrifices, home sacrifices, tree burials, and sea burials are also gradually becoming popular. Civilization has become a trend. When the lifestyle has improved, it is time to abandon the bad habits that once followed us and make Qingming truly Qingming.