As the saying goes, "On October 1st, send cold clothes". October 1st here refers to the first day of the lunar calendar. On this day, we all need to save some winter clothes for our dead relatives and send warm clothes to them. When we send warm clothes to our relatives, we need to burn some "five-color paper" just to prevent some ghosts and relatives who have no sacrifice from grabbing clothes. These customs profoundly show the grief and reverence of the living for the dead!
In the folk, there are many customs of Cold Clothes Festival, not just burning five-color paper and cold clothes. Usually, everyone cooks red bean rice and pays attention to it when paying homage. In some places, men who pay homage will be asked to kowtow instead of crying, while women need to cry loudly instead of kowtowing!
Related legends
According to legend, in the Qin Dynasty, Meng and Jiang planted melons and got a daughter named Fan Qiliang. Later, Qi Liang was taken to northern Xinjiang to repair the Great Wall and went all the way to find her husband to send warm clothes at the foot of the Great Wall. She didn't want her husband to die and be buried in the wall. Meng Jiangnu was sad and angry, crying to the Great Wall day and night. Finally, she felt the earth shaking, crying down the Great Wall and revealing her husband's bones. ?
Meng Jiangnv reburied her with the cotton-padded clothes she brought, which led to "sending cold clothes". For thousands of years, this faithful love story has been widely circulated. "Burning cold clothes on the first day of October" has long been a custom in the north to mourn the deceased relatives.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Cold Clothes Festival