Qingming Festival is one of the four traditional festivals in China. It has a long history and wide influence. It has long become an important link to maintain and promote the filial piety ethics of the Chinese nation, an important part of the broad and profound Chinese culture, and naturally an important intangible cultural heritage of our country. An in-depth understanding of the historical tradition of Qingming Festival customs and a profound interpretation of its contemporary value is not only the protection of this important intangible cultural heritage, but also the inheritance and promotion of excellent historical and cultural traditions. The origin and formal formation of the custom of Qingming Festival First, Shangsi Festival (March 3). Shangsi Festival is a very old festival, which takes place on the first day of the third month of the lunar calendar; Since the date is uncertain every year, it is inconvenient to promote, so it was fixed on March 3 after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. According to the documentary records, Shangsi Festival has existed at least in the Zhou Dynasty. On this day of the festival, people go to the water to get rid of bad luck. The book of songs, Zheng Feng and Qin Yu is a typical chapter describing Shangsi Festival. Its content is that young men and women of the state of Zheng admire each other, tease and joke with each other at the Qin water and Qin water, which set the mood at that time. It can be seen that while seeking auspiciousness, Shangsi festival customs also have the meaning of "mid Spring Moon, making men and women fall in love and promoting marriage" (Zhou Li). During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the custom of "meeting men and women" in the customs of the third March festival had disappeared, while the contents of waterside dancing and outing had been strengthened. Wang Xizhi's "the first running script in the world" Lanting preface, which is famous for thousands of years, was born on March 3; The poem "the weather is new on March 3, and there are many beautiful people by the water in Chang'an" by Du Fu of the Tang Dynasty also shows that outings have become the main content of the customs of March 3. The time of the Qingming Festival in March 3 is very close to that in early March. Therefore, after the Tang Dynasty, the custom of March 3 gradually faded out of people's life. There is no entry of "March 3" in the Tokyo Menghua record, which records the customs of Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, indicating that the custom of March 3 has disappeared in Kaifeng. Accordingly, the custom of Qingming Festival has become popular, and the original outing on March 3 has been incorporated into the Qingming Festival. Second, the "Qingming" of the "24 solar terms". The document Huainanzi in the early Han Dynasty completely recorded the "24 solar terms" for the first time, which marked the complete establishment of the "24 solar terms". "Qingming" is one of the "twenty-four solar terms". It takes place at the beginning of March of the lunar calendar and April 5 or 6 of the Gregorian calendar. It means sunny and bright weather. In this season, the land of China, especially the Yellow River Basin produced by the 24 solar terms, has a thriving scene of warming temperature, increasing rain, growing everything, farming and sowing. The Qingming phenology "tongshihua", "Peony Hua" and "Rainbow Shihui" in the "72" are also in line with the characteristics of this season. However, as a solar term, "Qingming" is only the time coordinate used by the ancients to identify phenology, separate seasons and guide agricultural production. It is the specific practice of the ancient thought of "Qin Ruhao Tian, respect the people" (Shangshu Yaodian). There is still a clear distance from the later Qingming festival customs of emphasizing sacrifice and outing. However, the "Qingming" solar term highlights the seasonal characteristics of sunny weather and bright spring, which is of fundamental significance for promoting people's aesthetic appreciation in spring and promoting the poetic experience of scholar women's outing. The third is the cold food festival. On the day before the Qingming Festival (i.e. 105 days after the winter solstice), the cold food festival originated in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province in the Han Dynasty. Its festival customs include fire prohibition and sacrifice. In the Tang Dynasty, due to the close relationship between the rulers of Li and Tang Dynasties and Shanxi, they extended this festival, which was originally popular in Shanxi, to the whole country. Therefore, the cold food festival flourished for a time. After the Yuan Dynasty, the cold food festival withdrew from the historical stage, its original cold food customs were no longer observed, and its sacrificial rites and customs were integrated into the Qingming Festival only one day away. The origin of the sacrificial custom of Qingming Festival can also be discussed. Some scholars believe that the fire ban of cold food festival should be rooted in the ancient star belief - the worship and fear of "fire". "Fire" is one of the three stars of "Xinsu" in "twenty-eight Nights". The "July flowing fire" in "CHENFENG · July" is the West flow of the fire. From the perspective of ancient astronomical division, the heart of the "big fire" corresponds to the geographical Song Dynasty (today's Henan area), "big fire" has become the standard star for businessmen to observe the sky; Shensu, which is closely related to Xinsu, corresponds to the geographical area of Jin (today's Shanxi). Shensu has become the standard star for Tang people (today's Shanxi people) to observe celestial phenomena. Up to now, there is a custom of observing Shensu in Linfen, Shanxi. Xinsu and Shensu are a pair of "enemies", which are the respective fiefs of Kan Bo and Shishen, the two sons of Gao Xin. Because of their endless struggle, Gao Xin separated and enfevered them permanently. At the beginning of March every year, when the fire dominated by Kan Bo gradually took off from east to west, the people in Shanxi where Shishen was located began to taboo and fear that their legendary cultural ancestor Shishen would be invaded. Therefore, they banned fire, cut off fire and offered sacrifices to pray for the safety of their ancestors. Therefore, the fire prohibition custom of cold food festival was first popular in Shanxi, especially in Taiyuan. The ancient astronomical division concept came into being in the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, which coincides with the time logic of people comparing the story of Duke Wen of Jin and Jie to the cold food festival. Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, was originally enfeoffed in Taiyuan and set up troops in Taiyuan. Before entering the customs, 30000 backbone troops were also recruited in Taiyuan. Therefore, the distinct Shanxi forces and habits of the early Tang Dynasty were formed. The rulers of Li and Tang Dynasties still regarded Shensu as the guardian star of their rule. In order to pray for their guardian stars to be safe and undisturbed, they still stubbornly adhered to the customs of fire prohibition and sacrifice, and then extended it to the whole country. This is another explanation of the origin of cold food. It can be seen from the above that the formation of Qingming Festival custom is the combination of Shangsi Festival, Qingming solar term and cold food festival. Specifically, the Shangsi Festival, which originally focused on "meeting men and women", has gradually been transformed into bathing and gathering near the water, which has injected sufficient reasons for outing into the Qingming Festival; When the custom of "meeting men and women" was gradually filtered out by Confucian ethics, Shangsi Festival gave way and merged with Qingming Festival in the Tang and Song dynasties. The "Qingming Festival" of the "24 solar terms" has contributed its name to the "Qingming Festival". Its attention to phenology has also promoted the aesthetic nature of the Qingming Festival and the poetic humanities of outings. The cold food festival, which appeared in Taiyuan in the Western Han Dynasty, was originally a local festival, but it became a national etiquette and custom because of the occasion of the Li Tang royal family. The content of fire prohibition and sacrifice became an important content of the later Qingming Festival custom. The Tang Dynasty is an important node in the formation of the Qingming Festival. First of all, the Tang Dynasty officially recognized and standardized the tomb sweeping behavior of the cold food festival. In April of the 20th year of Kaiyuan, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty wrote a special imperial edict for sweeping the tomb for cold food: "when cold food goes to the tomb, there is no text in the rites. It is handed down from generation to generation, and it is common to dip it into customs. Since scholars and common people are not enjoyed by the temple, why should they use filial piety? It is advisable to go to the tomb, pay a sweeping ceremony, and pay a drink outside the South Gate of the tomb. After the food is withdrawn, cry, and the food is left in his place, so they can't have fun. It is still incorporated into the ritual code, which will always be the norm." (Volume 23 of Tang Huiyao) this is obviously a ritual system specially designed for "scholars and common people" to worship their ancestors and relatives. Going to the tomb has become an act affirmed by the national ceremony. Secondly, Tang also arranged holidays to support scholars to go to the tomb, or four days, or five days, or seven days. The 22nd year of the Dali calendar stipulates: "from now on, cold food, Qingming and five days off." (Volume 82 of Tang Huiyao) again, "burning paper to the yellow spring" is the social and psychological basis for Qingming Festival to replace cold food. In the Tang Dynasty, "cold food gives paper money to every family" (Zhang Ji's "Beimang line") and "paper money gets yellow spring without fire for three days" (Wang Jian's "cold food line"), which shows that people generally give paper money to the deceased, and only after burning can paper money be sent to the deceased. Du Mu's poem "it rains one after another during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road want to break their souls" illustrates the general situation of Qingming Festival sacrifice. Zhang Zeduan's picture of the river during the Qingming Festival in the Northern Song Dynasty can better witness the grand and prosperous Qingming Festival in Kaifeng City in the Northern Song Dynasty. Cultural value of Qingming Festival Customs In the long history, the custom of Qingming Festival is rich and colorful. In addition to offering sacrifices and outings, there are also activities such as swinging, planting trees, inserting willows, eating rice cakes or AI Tuan, cockfighting and grass fighting, which vary from place to place. The Qingming Festival in other literature and folk arts is also rich and colorful and beautiful. Today, the custom of Qingming Festival always has profound cultural value. First, the Qingming Festival custom contains the Confucian ethical appeal with great vitality, which is of great significance to promote national cohesion. The formation process of Qingming Festival custom is the sublation and elimination of the customs left over from ancient times under the control of Confucian ethics. It is self-evident that the concept of "loyalty to the common people and sacrifice to their ancestors" should be popularized at the grass-roots level, which is not only the most significant to promote the concept of "loyalty to the common people and sacrifice to their ancestors", but also to enhance the cohesion of the common people. Since modern times, it is very common for Qingming Festival to commemorate revolutionary heroes and people with lofty ideals, from the state to primary and secondary school students; There are also sacrifices to the Yellow Emperor, Fuxi and Confucius. The purpose is very clear, which is to guide people to respect their relatives and ancestors and love their family, country and nation. For China, a large country with a vast territory, many nationalities and uneven historical and practical development, national cohesion and sense of identity are particularly important. Qingming Festival can play a good role in guiding and strengthening. Second, the custom of Qingming festival itself has been transformed into a cultural symbol, and has promoted a large number of fine arts, adding a strong color to the broad and profound traditional culture. Looking back on the misty rain all the way to the Qingming Festival, from poetry to CI, to quyi novels, to excellent works of calligraphy and painting, there is a sense of "being overwhelmed" that "mountain vagina goes up". In Zuo Zhuan · twenty four years of Xi Gong, "Jie Zhitui doesn't mention salary" has long become a model of ancient prose in China. There are many scripts and novels about Jie Zhitui in the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties; The famous preface to Lanting and the picture of the river during the Qingming Festival can be regarded as the masterpiece in the field of ancient calligraphy and painting in China; In the whole Tang poetry alone, there are more than 300 poems about Qingming, and the Qingming poems and sacrificial texts since the song and Yuan Dynasties are even more difficult to count. Obviously, the Qingming Festival has become a fertile soil for moistening and promoting the production of fine arts, and a home for artists to cultivate their spirit. (Xinhua News Agency)