Tengzhou Tomb-Sweeping Day custom

Tomb-Sweeping Day's customs are rich and interesting. Besides paying attention to burning fire to sweep graves, there are also 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 burn a fire with cold food. 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.

Swing is a custom in ancient Tomb-Sweeping Day, 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. Swing can not only improve health, but also cultivate courage, which is deeply loved by people, especially children.

Cujuju is a rubber ball, the skin of which is made of leather, and the ball is filled 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.

Hiking is 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. China folks have always maintained the habit of going for an outing in Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Before and after planting trees, it is clear, the spring is bright, the spring rain is flying, and the survival rate of seedlings is high and the growth is fast. 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 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.

Flying kites is also the most popular activity in Tomb-Sweeping Day. 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.

Going to the river to sweep the grave on Qingming Festival is called "respecting 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 went to the grave to pay their respects, and the gold ingot was hung on the back of the sedan chair, and the road was full of embarrassment. 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 names of people who died after receiving 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;

2. Ghost banknotes, which are copied after the world has foreign currency tickets, are written with the words "Paradise Bank", "Ghost Bank" and "Bank of Hell and Cao Yin", and have the pattern of the capital city, mostly with huge denominations, and the Buddhist "death curse" is printed on the back;

3. Fake foreign currency, with hard paper 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.

6. Flowers are used in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Generally speaking, white flowers are used to express condolences. Bai Baihe and calla lilies are more suitable for grave-sweeping, while white roses, gardenias or plain flowers symbolize regret and nostalgia. Others prefer simple plants such as Pinus bungeana and weeds. Of course, flowers for sweeping graves are no longer limited to this. Many citizens will choose flowers according to the age and preferences of the deceased, such as forget me, yellow roses, red roses, birds of paradise and so on.

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 inserted in the soil, where it is inserted, where it is inserted every year, and the shade is everywhere.

Tomb-Sweeping Day has beautiful spring breeze and trees. People go hiking, sweeping graves and going to graves on this day. Everyone should wear willow, and willow branches should be inserted at the door of every household. Where did this custom come from? There is a legend about Tomb-Sweeping Day related to Liu Yong, a great poet in the Song Dynasty. It is said that Liu Yong lives a dissolute life and often travels between Huajie Liuxiang. Geisha at that time loved their talents and were proud of being favored by Liu Yong. However, Liu Yong was not allowed to have a career because of his bad life. Although he passed the Jinshi, he died in poverty in Xiangyang. His funeral expenses were all raised by singers who admired him. Every year in Tomb-Sweeping Day, the singer will plant willow branches in front of his grave as a souvenir. It has become a custom to plant willow branches on Qingming Festival. In fact, this custom existed as early as the Tang Dynasty. People in the Tang Dynasty believed that wearing willow branches when offering sacrifices by the river on March 3 could get rid of the harm of poisonous insects. After the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the custom of inserting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day was very popular. When people come back from an outing, they stay at home to avoid insects. Whether recorded in folklore or historical records, planting willows in Tomb-Sweeping Day is always related to avoiding diseases and epidemics. During the Spring Festival, the climate gets warmer, and all kinds of germs begin to multiply in large numbers. People can only hope to shake willows and branches in the case of poor medical conditions.

There are many traditional customs and activities around Tomb-Sweeping Day. Such as lighting a fire with cold food, sweeping graves in Tomb-Sweeping Day, hiking, playing polo, flying kites, swinging, cockfighting and tug-of-war. These activities have changed with the passage of time and social evolution. Some customs have been abolished, while others have been preserved and given new contents.

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