Peng from Zhongjiang Middle School in Sichuan Province
Tomb-Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China, which started in the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. Also known as "Tomb-Sweeping Day", "Ghost Festival" and "Ghost Festival", they are all related to offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods. Also known as the "outing festival". According to the solar calendar, April 4th to 6th every year is a season of bright spring and lush vegetation, and it is also a good time for people to have a spring outing. Therefore, the ancients had the custom of going for an outing in Qingming and carrying out a series of sports activities. It was also called "March Festival" in ancient times.
It has an indissoluble bond with the twenty-four solar terms of the lunar calendar. In a year, only the Qingming Festival and the winter solstice can enjoy this honor, which is both a solar term and a festival. Huai Nan Zi. "Astronomical Training" said: "On the fifteenth day after the vernal equinox, the bucket refers to B, and the Qingming wind comes." "A hundred questions at the age of 100" says: "Everything grows clean and bright, hence the name Qingming." When Qingming comes, the temperature rises and the rainfall increases, which is the best season for spring ploughing and sowing. Therefore, some agricultural proverbs, such as "Before and after Qingming, plant melons and beans" and "Flowers are long in Qingming, melons and fruits are long in summer", are popular among the agricultural population.
When it comes to Tomb-Sweeping Day, we can't help mentioning the Cold Food Festival. Cold food festival, also known as cooked food festival, no smoking festival and cold food festival. Its date is 105 from the winter solstice, that is, it is only one or two days away from Qingming, and it is set on the day before Qingming according to our custom in Sichuan. The main custom of this festival is to ban fire, cook without fire, and only eat prepared cooked food and cold food, hence the name.
According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, someone in the State of Jin tried to kill Zhong Er. The loyal minister Jiezhitui (also known as Jiezhitui) escorted Zhong Er to escape, and even cut off his own meat to eat when Zhong Er was hungry and cold, hoping that he would return to power safely in the future and be diligent and love the people. Nineteen years later, Zhong Er finally returned to China and became the monarch, that is, Jin Wengong, one of the five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period. He rewarded those who helped him in exile, but forgot to introduce him. After being reminded by others, he immediately sent someone to ask for a reward. But Jie Zhitui only wants to live in seclusion with his mother in the mountains and refuses to come out to receive the reward. Jin Wengong and his courtiers found nothing in the mountains. It is suggested that Yamakaji be released. Jie Zhitui is a dutiful son and will definitely save his mother. However, the fire burned for three days and nights, and there was still no referral. After the fire went out, people found Jie Zhitui's body carrying his mother under a willow tree. Jin Wengong was so sad that he buried his mother and son under a willow tree, and designated the day when Yamakaji was released as the Cold Food Festival, stipulating that people were forbidden to use fire and eat cold food for one day to commemorate Jie Zhitui's loyalty.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Cold Food Festival was much more famous than Tomb-Sweeping Day. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties (58 1-907), these two festivals gradually merged into the same festival, which became a day dedicated to grave-sweeping and ancestor worship, that is, today's Tomb-Sweeping Day. Since then, Tomb-Sweeping Day has become a fixed custom of the Chinese nation, and the Cold Food Festival has almost been forgotten.
To put it bluntly, Tomb-Sweeping Day carries three humanistic connotations: sweeping graves, offering sacrifices to ancestors and going for an outing. A year later, people expressed their memory of their ancestors through this activity; Chen's gratitude to his ancestors; I also exercised my bones and watched the natural beauty after the recovery of everything-not only inheriting the wind of filial piety, but also promoting the virtue of gratitude, and also raising my body and mind, which is beneficial but not harmful. Why not do it?
No wonder, for thousands of years, literati vividly described and praised this traditional festival in China with their wonderful works. Just looking up the Complete Works of Tang Poetry and Song Ci, there are as many as 335 Tang poems with the words "Qingming" or "Cold Food", and 520 more Song Ci. Among them, the poem Qingming written by Du Mu in Little Du Li in the late Tang Dynasty is the most famous. Contemporary textbook writers have incorporated it into primary school textbooks, and even children are familiar with this poem. It rains a lot during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls. Excuse me, where is the restaurant? The shepherd boy points to Xinghua Village. In just 28 words, the mood and scene of people going to visit graves to worship their ancestors during the Qingming Festival are vividly outlined. Isn't it beautiful?
No wonder the National Festival and Remembrance Day (the second revision) stipulates that all citizens in Tomb-Sweeping Day have a day off! It is really a feat of conforming to the national conditions and public opinion!
In today's view, Qingming has three meanings: one is the "Qingming" of nature, the other is the "Qingming" of spiritual realm, and the third is the "Qingming" that people most expect. Write here, I have a little poem, as a conclusion:
Go to the grave with gratitude and talk about comforting our ancestors with paper money.
Spring is intoxicating, and I hope the rivers and mountains will be clearer.