Are Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival the same festival? The relationship and difference between Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival

As a national sacrificial festival, Qingming Festival has a very important status. Among so many traditional festivals, only a few are well known to us, and the once famous Cold Food Festival has gradually declined. So, are Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival the same festival?

Are Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival the same festival?

no. The dates of Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival are relatively close, but they are not the same festival. They are both traditional festivals in my country. The Cold Food Festival is usually held one or two days before the Qingming Festival. Every year during the Cold Food Festival, people have the custom of not using fireworks and only eating cold food. The Cold Food Festival is to commemorate Jie Zitui, a famous loyal minister in history. However, with the development of society, because the dates of Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival were too close, Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival were gradually merged into one.

The relationship between Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival

1. Relationship in time

In ancient times, the time relationship between "Qingming Festival" and "Cold Food Festival" was: the day before Qingming Festival was "Cold Food Festival". According to legend, when Duke Wen of Jin was in trouble during the Spring and Autumn Period, Jie Zitui cut his own flesh to feed him. After Duke Wen of Jin ascended the throne, he invited Jie Zitui to be an official, but Jie Zitui lived in seclusion in Mianshan. Duke Wen of Jin set fire to the mountain to force Jie Zitui out, but ended up burning Jie Zitui to death by mistake. Duke Wen of Jin was deeply regretful and issued an order that no fire should be fired from that day onwards. Because of the ban on fire, people can only eat cold food on this day, so it is called "Cold Food Day". Later, Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival were gradually merged into one, and it has been passed down from generation to generation and become a traditional festival of the Chinese nation.

2. Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival are originally the same

As far as the Qingming Festival is concerned, the Qingming wind, which was one of the eight winds before the Tang Dynasty, and the Qingming solar term, which was one of the twenty-four solar terms, were a positive cultural accumulation for the creation of the Qingming Festival. But at the same time, we should also pay attention to a more important cultural foundation, which is the Cold Food Festival. The reason is actually very simple. The Cold Food Festival has a long history, accompanied by various touching legends, such as the legend about Jie Zitui; coupled with its peculiar festival customs, such as banning fire, eating cold food, etc., these factors undoubtedly make it more widely spread among the people. The Qingming Festival was able to rise to become an important festival that still has a huge influence today because it relied on the Cold Food Festival, which had a broad mass base, and continuously absorbed the customs of the Cold Food Festival during its development. In this sense, we can even say that without the glorious history of Cold Food Festival, Qingming Festival would not have such a huge influence as it does today. Let me make an analogy here. The Qingming Festival is like standing on the shoulders of a giant like the Cold Food Festival. Our admiration for it is actually thanks to the Cold Food Festival, the giant that silently supports it from underneath. From this perspective, Qingming Festival is indeed a festival that is fortunate to be accompanied by Cold Food Festival.

3. The festival culture of Qingming Festival originated from the Cold Food Festival.

In the Tang Dynasty, a custom was introduced into the Cold Food Festival, which was the custom of ancestor worship and tomb sweeping. The Tang Dynasty introduced this festival out of political considerations at that time. It hoped to use the concept of filial piety to guide the people to respect the feudal education norms, that is, to cultivate the people's concepts of loyalty and filial piety. This custom has led to a direct connection between the Cold Food Festival and the idea of ​​ancestor worship, the mainstream cultural thought in ancient China. This has created a solid foundation for the dissemination of the customs and culture of the Cold Food Festival. As we will analyze carefully later, the main festival characteristics of Qingming Festival are based on the inheritance of the tomb-sweeping custom of Cold Food Festival. The true vitality of Qingming Festival also comes from this.

4. Qingming Festival also inherits other customs of Cold Food Festival

Customs such as outings in the suburbs, flying kites, swinging, planting willows and wearing willow branches, cockfighting, and tug-of-war are all directly related to the Cold Food Festival. Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival are actually one family. Looking at any major festivals in ancient times, there are certain connections and influences between each other. The characteristics of these festivals being influenced by a certain time and place are very obvious.

The difference between Qingming Festival and Cold Food Festival

The Cold Food Festival is related to the ancient people's understanding of nature. In China, the rebirth of new fire after the Cold Food Festival is a transitional ceremony to bid farewell to the old and usher in the new. It reveals the message of seasonal change and symbolizes the beginning of a new season, new hope, new life, and a new cycle. Later, it came to mean "gratitude", emphasizing more on the remembrance and gratitude for the "past". During the Cold Food Festival, people are not allowed to use fire or eat cold food to offer sacrifices to tombs; during the Qingming Festival, they use new fire and go outings. Qingming Festival is an important traditional festival in our country. It is one of the eight important festivals: Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, Beginning of Summer, Dragon Boat Festival, Zhongyuan Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Winter Solstice and New Year's Eve. Qingming Festival, also known as the outing festival, is held around April 5 every year. It is a very important traditional festival in my country and an important day for worshipping ancestors. It is of great significance in remembering the ancestors and paying homage to them. Qingming was originally just the name of a solar term, but later it gradually became a festival. Every year during the Qingming Festival, many people return to their hometowns to sweep the graves of their deceased relatives and ancestors. In addition, every year during the Qingming Festival, there is also the custom of eating green rice balls, eating Qingming snails, flying kites and going on an outing.