When the “cold food “Festival on earth is a controversial issue from the ancient times to the present. It is said in the record of Liang Zonglin in “Jing Chu Sui Shi Ji”, the 100th day after winter solstice use to be called the “cold food “Festival. And the “cold food “Festival occurs exactly right before the event of qing ming one or two days.
However, some do not think so. Some regard the day before the event of qing ming as the “cold food “Festival by their reasonable guess from a poet from Tan Yuanzhen. In fact they are both right. As a matter of fact, there is only one day difference for the event of qing ming and the “cold food “Festival. China is a large agricultural country so that Chinese people were flexible to the number and time in ancient times. Therefore, one day or two days’ difference was not so important to them. What’s more, the “cold food “Festival is not one of the festivals in China’s 24 solar terms. So it was not a problem for them.
The “cold food “Festival and the event of qing ming are closer. So the ancient people also celebrated the” cold food “Festival in the event of qing ming. There is no strict difference between the event of qing ming and the “cold food “Festival gradually. The Chinese people may celebrate the event before and after it with lots of different traditional activities. For example, qing ming Ci Huo, Tomb-Sweeping in qing ming, spring country walks, playing polo, flying kites, playing on the swings, chicken fight, and tug-of-war and so on. With the changing of society and the time flying, some of those have been knocked out gradually. On the contrary, some of them stay and have the new content.
The tomb-sweeping in the event of qing ming
Sweeping the tomb in the event of qing ming has been a traditional convention for Chinese people. They sweep the tomb in the event of qing ming in order to show their respect and memory to the ancestors. And this traditional convention can be date from long time ago. And it has been considered as an honored virtue in China. No matter the civilians or the Sheriff’s nobility, they all went to sweep the tomb and sacrifice the ancestors by showing their deepest thoughts.
The tomb-sweeping Day did not take into the national holiday until Tong Dynasty. Why they went to sweep the tomb in qing ming? It is likely because winter has gone and the spring is around the corner. This makes them think of the tomb of the ancestors. So they came to sweep the bomb in order to check if the tomb of the ancestors is fine. On one hand, they will weed roots and grass on the tomb. On the other hand, they may sacrifice with some sacrificial goods, burning the paper or hanging up in the middle of the tomb to show their respect memory.