New Year's Day in Song Dynasty refers to the first day of the year. The "yuan" on New Year's Day refers to the beginning, which means first, and the beginning of each number is called "yuan"; "Dan" is a hieroglyph, with the upper "sun" representing the sun and the lower "one" representing the horizon. "Dan" means that the sun rises from the horizon of Ran Ran, symbolizing the beginning of a day.

The Origin of Cold Food Festival

According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Jin Xiangong, the monarch of the State of Jin, had five sons, namely, Yi Wu, Qi and Zhuo Zi. Shen Sheng was born to the first lady of Jin Xiangong and was made a prince. Jin Xiangong's stepmother, Li Ji, conspired to kill Prince Shen Sheng in order to make her son a beautiful prince. In order to avoid the persecution of stepmother Li Ji, sons Zhong Er and Yi Wu fled abroad respectively.

Jie Zhitui, a sage of Jin State, has been living in exile with Zhong Er through hardships. One year, Zhong Er was seriously ill during his exile, which made him very poor. In order to supplement nutrition for Zhong Er, who was seriously ill and weak, Jiezitui cut off the meat on his leg and cooked it into broth for Zhong Er to eat, which restored his health.

The custom of cold food festival

The custom of cold food sweeping graves moved to Qingming. Customs such as spring outing and swinging are only held in Tomb-Sweeping Day. Tomb-Sweeping Day rose from a simple agricultural solar term to an important festival, and the influence of the Cold Food Festival disappeared.

The wind of going for an outing in the Song Dynasty prevailed, and the famous painter Zhang Zeduan's genre painting "The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival" vividly described the lively scene of people going for an outing in Kyoto during the Qingming Festival in the Song Dynasty.

In Tomb-Sweeping Day in the Song Dynasty, in addition to the ready-made foods such as thick paste, wheat cake, cheese and milk cake, people also made a swallow-shaped pasta called "jujube flying swallow", which is said to be used to worship mesons.

Winter Customs from Song Dynasty to Japan

The custom of eating wonton from winter solstice. The Song people explained in detail that Lin 'an people eat wonton to worship their ancestors on the solstice in winter. It was not until the Southern Song Dynasty that the custom of eating wonton on the solstice became popular in China.

There are many traditional festivals in Song Dynasty, among which three are Cold Food Festival, New Year's Day and Winter Solstice.