How much do you know about the customs of the Tomb Sweeping Day? Follow the lines of poetry to understand the traditional culture

There are many poems and articles in every festival. Every festival, no matter what its content and significance, is a literary pageant. Of course, Qingming is no exception.
Qingming Custom I: Sacrifice sweeping
Speaking of Tomb Sweeping Day, many people first thought that it must be tomb sweeping. As for tomb sweeping, Bai Juyi's Cold Food and Wild Hope Ode is very detailed:
"Outside the Guomen of Qiu Ruins, who cries for cold food.
The paper money flies in the wind in the wilderness, and the ancient tombs are full of spring grass.
Tang pear flowers reflect white poplars, which are all separated from each other in life and death.
The lonely heavy spring cries, and the drizzling rain makes people return. "
It is reported that the custom of tomb sweeping originated in the Qin Dynasty, but it was not necessarily in the Qingming Festival at that time. It was completely finalized in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and became the core content of the Qingming Festival. Today, this custom remains unchanged, and many families still choose to worship their lost relatives before and after the Tomb Sweeping Day.
Qingming Custom 2: Inserting Willows
In addition, every Qingming Festival, every family will fold willow branches and insert them on their lintels. When going to the countryside to visit the tomb, everyone will put willow branches on their clothes. This kind of scene is just like the poem of Yang Yunhua in the Qing Dynasty:
"I heard that wicker was sold along the street in the Qingming moment.
Adjacent to the sisters, one plant slants into the green cloud. "
The reason is that the Qingming Festival not only worships the ancestors' spirits, but also prevents sneaky intrusion, so it is necessary to use willow branches that are said to have the effect of exorcising evil spirits. In this way, wearing willows to insert willows is often a necessary decoration for visiting ancestral tombs. On the contrary, it is not respectful of the ancestors. The lighter one is the exhortation of "Do not wear willows at Qingming, and red faces become bright heads", and the heavier one is the curse of "Do not wear willows at Qingming, and become yellow dogs after death".
Qingming Custom 3: Eating Cold Food
Zhang Ji, a Tang Dynasty man, once described the Qingming Festival in Suzhou in his Instant Stories at Changmen:
"The ploughmen are recruited to chase the boats, and the spring grass is green.
Try to go to the Wumen to see the county. There is light smoke in several places during the Qingming Festival. "
It can be seen that on the Tomb Sweeping Day, there is a diet of not moving the stove and avoiding hot food. It is called "no cold food on the Tomb Sweeping Day, hail falls all over the ground".
So, what did the ancients eat in this custom observed by all the people? In the north, people only eat jujube cakes and wheat cakes prepared in advance; In the south, most of them are green rice ball and glutinous rice and sugar lotus root. Although people today are not as particular as before, and the function of the green dough as a sacrifice is fading, its sticky, glutinous and instant taste still attracts people to queue up for purchase.
Of course, in addition to the fire ban and tomb sweeping, there are also colorful custom activities such as outings, swings and Cuju.
Qingming Custom IV: outing
"The pear blossom wind is rising in the clear morning, and the wanderer is leaving the city half way through the spring.
At dusk, when the songs are cleared up, thousands of willows belong to migratory warblers. "
Wu Weixin of the Song Dynasty wrote the poem "Su Di Qingming Instant Events", which vividly depicts the grand scene of Qingming outing.
It can be seen that the ancients have combined sacrifice and recreation. Because ancestor worship is to be held in the suburbs, they can go hiking after ancestor worship, and often take this outing as the highlight of the Tomb Sweeping Festival, which adds the secular connotation of returning to nature and enjoying life to the solemn and respectful Tomb Sweeping Festival. In addition, there are many love stories in classical novels. The hero and heroine fell in love at first sight during the Spring Festival on the Tomb Sweeping Day. The White Lady and Xu Xian are living examples.
Qingming Custom V: Swing
"The willows all over the street are as green as smoke, drawing the three month day of Qingming Festival.
It's like a girl sending a swing through a curtain of red apricots. "
Wei Zhuang, a Tang Dynasty poet, said "swinging on the swing".
And Shen Gou of Song Dynasty wrote "Four Books after the Qingming Festival"
It is said that the boy "is a pity that the man is light and strong, so he can give him a swing";
The girl said, "You don't know about the silkworm when you swim, but when you speak, you still talk about the swing.".
It can be seen that swinging is a popular activity among the ancients.
The swing means to move with a leather rope. Its history is very old. It was first called Qianqiu. Later, in order to avoid taboos, it was changed to swing. In ancient times, swings were mostly made of tree branches and colored ribbons. Later, it gradually developed into a swing with two ropes and pedals. Playing swing can not only improve health, but also cultivate bravery, which has been loved by people, especially children.
Qingming Custom VI: Cuju
Wang Wei's Instant Events in the East of Cold Food City Yes
"Cuju is often used to fly over birds, and swing is used to race out of the weeping willow".
Cuju - Ju is a kind of leather ball. The leather of the ball is made of leather and the inside of the ball is stuffed with wool. Cuju means playing football with your feet. He was also a game that people loved during the Tomb Sweeping Day in ancient times. It is said that it was invented by the Yellow Emperor and was originally used to train warriors.
It can be seen that at that time, men liked to show off their skills and superb football skills in the Qingming Cuju. The purpose was to attract young girls and promote their careers. Gao Qiu in the Water Margin became famous because he played Cuju well.
Qingming Custom 7: Flying Kites
Luo Yin's Early Departure from the East Gate on a Cold Food Day:
"To whom I praise the beautiful scenery, I just sigh for the fleeting years.
Don't fly high. Look back at Zhiyuan. "
It can be seen that the ancients would fly kites on the Tomb Sweeping Day, not only during the day, but also at night. Flying kites is not only a recreational activity, but also has some witchcraft behaviors: the ancients believed that flying kites could free their own filth. So many people write all the disasters they know on paper kites when flying kites on the Tomb Sweeping Day. When the kites fly high, they cut the kite strings and let the paper kites fly away with the wind, which symbolizes that their diseases and filth have been taken away by the kites.