Qingming Festival
01 · Historical Records
It is widely told among the people that Jie Zitui died on the day before Qingming and that Duke Wen of Jin thereupon ordered that on this day fire be forbidden and cold food eaten; this later evolved into the Cold Food Festival. From the Tang dynasty onward, the legends of the Cold Food Festival, the Shangsi purification rites and the customs of Qingming merged into one, giving shape to the Jiexiu Cold Food and Qingming customs, which are centered on ancestral worship and tomb sweeping and have been handed down to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Qingming customs of Jiexiu are a long-standing, richly connoted and distinctive folk custom, circulated in Jiexiu and across the wider Jinzhong region. Jiexiu lies in the middle reaches of the Fen River; its place name derives from the fact that Jie Zitui, the famous recluse of the Spring and Autumn period, died in this place. The main activities include: forbidding fire, eating cold food, offering sacrifices, sweeping tombs, inserting willow branches, making spring outings, playing cuju football, swinging on swings, flying kites, cockfighting, viewing flowers and reciting poetry, as well as sprouting black soybeans, gathering willow buds, steaming dough figurines, wearing willow wreaths, sweeping rooftops, hanging red orchid paper and staging operas.
Preparing cold food on the cold food day
No fire is lit that day, so households prepare cooked food in advance—cold noodles, cakes, bean sprouts and willow shoots.
Willow, sweeping and the eaves
Willow is set at the gate and on graves, children wear willow rings, and the yard and eaves are swept of the old dust.
Visiting graves with red paper
Families climb the graves with offerings of food and burn distinctive red paper, then press down the mound and leave fresh fruit.
Spring outings with cuju, swings and cocks
Beyond the graves lie games—cu ju, swings, cockfighting and kites—plus theatre at the village stage.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Jiexiu area lies in the middle reaches of the Fen River; the land is mostly plain with few floods, and the villages are distributed along the Fen and its tributaries. In former times this was also the stretch where the prohibitions around Qingming were strictest. The overlap of Cold Food and Qingming is especially tight in Jinzhong: within a single day one must neither light a fire nor climb the hills to pay respects at the graves, while also inserting willow at the door and pasting talismans on it, so the day is packed full. The local distinctiveness of Jiexiu is concentrated in the making of cold food: in former days willow was inserted before the door and willow wreaths were worn on the body, every household sprouted black soybeans and gathered willow buds for the table, and dough figurines were molded into offerings in the shape of Cold Food swallows and sparrows, steamed and then distributed to neighbors' children; even today stalls can still be seen steaming and selling them before temple fairs. The spring outing is the liveliest item: the Jiexiu area calls it a seasonal festivity that goes without fire, with cuju football, swings, cockfighting, flower viewing and poetry recitation taking turns in performance, and youths and children playing until dusk before dispersing. In recent years the Qingming activities in the old city of Jiexiu and around Zhangbi Ancient Castle have strung the tomb-sweeping routes, temple fair stalls and traditional courtyards into an outing circuit; neighboring counties such as Lingshi, Xiaoyi and Yushe each have their own rules for visiting graves and inserting willow, sharing a common origin yet differing in detail. Many places in Jinzhong also retain the old custom of not sweeping the courtyard on that day but sweeping the rooftops instead, the idea being to sweep last year's dust and ill luck out of the house altogether. At Zhangbi Ancient Castle in Jiexiu city and the village communities of the townships and villages within its territory, clan elders usually set the order for grave visits before Cold Food, each family ascending the hill in turn without scrambling to be first; before the temple, paper stalls sell incense, candles and spirit money, and within a single day the streams of people going to and from the graves and the temple fair vendors intermingle, forming the most life-filled scene of Qingming in Jiexiu. The Jinzhong area also calls kite flying "releasing she-eagles": around Qingming in the fourth month a day is chosen according to the wind direction for launching, and if a kite snags on a utility pole or a treetop it must be got down somehow, never being left to fall, which is regarded as inauspicious. Jiexiu, being close to the Fen River, has steadier winds, so "releasing she-eagles" is mostly done on the Fen River flats and open ground outside the villages, with long, steady lines and dozens of children following along.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Qingming Festival · Qingming Festival · Qingming Festival.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
This project preserves the deep historical and cultural memory of the Chinese nation and is of major historical and folkloric value.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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