Qingming was just the name of a solar term at first, and later became a festival to commemorate ancestors, which was related to the Cold Food Festival.
Cold Food Festival is an early festival in ancient China. Legend has it that it was set up in the Spring and Autumn Period to commemorate Jiexiu, a loyal minister of the State of Jin.
In fact, from the historical reality, the prohibition of cold food mainly reflects the remains of the ancient custom of changing fire in China.
In primitive society, the ancestors drilled wood for fire, and fire was very rare. Due to the seasonal changes, the tree species used for making fires are constantly changing. Therefore, changing fire into new fire is a major event in the lives of the ancients.
Spring and March are the seasons for changing fires, so people should forbid making fires before new ones come.
The Han Dynasty called the Cold Food Festival a no-smoking festival, because people were not allowed to light a fire on this day, and candles were lit in the palace at night, and the fire spread to the homes of dignitaries.
The customs during the Cold Food Festival mainly included forbidding fire and cold food and offering sacrifices to sweep graves, which later became the main content of Tomb-Sweeping Day.
The ancients in China attached great importance to offering sacrifices to their ancestors.
In ancient times, when someone died in the family, they only dug graves for burial, not built graves. Sacrifices are mainly held in ancestral halls.
Later, when digging a grave, a mound was built, and ancestor worship was arranged in the cemetery, so there was material support.
During the Warring States period, the wind of tomb sacrifice gradually flourished.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, sweeping graves became more popular.
According to Hanshu, Yan Yannian, the minister, regularly returned to his hometown to pay homage to the cemetery even though he was thousands of miles away from Beijing.
In the Tang Dynasty, both literati and civilians regarded the grave sweeping of the Cold Food Festival as a ritual festival to return to their hometown and pursue religion. Because Tomb-Sweeping Day is close to the Cold Food Festival, people often extend the time for sweeping graves to Tomb-Sweeping Day.
Poets' works are often both cold and clear. For example, Wei has a poem saying: "Qingming is good for cold food, and the spring garden is full of flowers.
Bai Juyi also has a poem that says, "When crows make trouble, trees faint, and people eat cold food on Qingming Day, who cries?" .
In view of the fact that folk cold food and Tomb-Sweeping Day have become a habit, the court officially stipulated in the form of official documents that when Tomb-Sweeping Day arrived, he could have a holiday together with the Cold Food Festival.
This regulation has been around for more than 1200 years, which shows that Qingming began to have the color of a national statutory holiday.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Tomb-Sweeping Day gradually rose from being attached to the Cold Food Festival to replacing it.
This is not just a grave-sweeping ceremony on the dining table, but the original customs and activities of the Cold Food Festival, such as cold food, cuju and swinging, have all been taken over by Tomb-Sweeping Day.