Excuse me, where is the restaurant? The shepherd boy pointed to Xinghua Village.
-inscription
When I learned this poem, I was still in kindergarten. At that time, I couldn't understand its meaning, but later I understood it in ignorance. It was not until the Spring Festival this year that I seemed to see the appearance of "Xinghua Village".
According to the teacher, Tomb-Sweeping Day, also known as the Cold Food Festival, has a history of more than 2,500 years in China. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jiezitui followed his son Zhong Er desperately, but after Zhong Er became the monarch and achieved the "Five Overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period", Jiezitui retired to Mianshan behind his mother's back. Jin Wengong issued a letter calling on people not to light a fire on this day as a souvenir. Gradually, people are used to carrying cold food to sweep graves on this day, which has become the custom of Qingming.
It was after the Lunar New Year, and my parents and I went back to our hometown. My hometown is an obscure village in Linshui County, Sichuan Province. My "Qingming" is the second day after I returned to my hometown, that is, the fourth day of the first month.
That day, my father said that our family would go to "sweep the grave". It turns out that I have also heard of "sweeping the grave", thinking that it is to remove the dead branches and leaves in front of the grave and knock on the head a few times. But later, when I saw my cousins holding knives and axes and carrying bamboo baskets of paper money, firecrackers and food, I realized that the tradition of "sweeping graves" in my hometown was very grand.
Let's look at Taigong's grave first. It's a deserted grave in the mountains. The cemetery is full of lichens and fallen leaves. At first glance, it is a pile of several big stones. In fact, it was a "treasure land" selected by Mr. Feng Shui after careful investigation. People in my hometown say that my dad can go to college step by step from a small village like Shan Ye and come to work in a city like Chongqing. Thanks to the Taigong tomb, it occupied this "land of geomantic omen" with good orientation and orientation. The road in front of Taigong's grave is like a bow, and his father is like an arrow, which has blessed his father's future. I'm skeptical. Dad said that we should respect the customs and habits of our hometown, but everyone's study and life depend on their own efforts, which has little to do with "Feng Shui". Otherwise, how can the "bow" in squire's hand only shoot an arrow?
Anyway, Taigong's grave should occupy a special place in the hearts of the whole family, so every worship begins here. My cousins swept away the fallen leaves and cut off the miscellaneous branches before I recognized the ancestral grave. I can't help but sigh: Are hermits from ancient times to the present, like this wasteland, hiding in the mountains like mesons, unknown to the world? How many such "Feng Shui" stories are handed down from generation to generation in every village? !
Then, Sir Zhong (father's second brother) and his father respectfully put pork, candy, cakes and so on. In front of the grave, they poured some wine into the bowl, sprinkled it on the ground slowly, and murmured, "Look, our whole family has come to see you ..." After that, they put straw mats in front of the grave and bowed down according to their generations. Sir Zhong and his father bowed down first. First, hold incense, raise your head and knock three heads at the grave, then kneel down, knock three heads, insert incense at the grave, and burn a handful of paper money at the same time, so that your ancestors can bless themselves in their hearts.
Finally, Cousins put a long firecracker around the grave and lit it, which is said to drive away ghosts. The silent mountain is accompanied by the rumble of firecrackers, which seems to be even quieter; With the rumble of firecrackers, the ancient wasteland seems to be getting older and older.
After that, our group went to pay homage to the graves of grandma, grandma, grandpa, grandpa and uncle (dad's big brother). Everyone's face is full of solemnity, sadness and admiration, and his heart should also be full of nostalgia, piety and sadness. Unfortunately, before I was born, my grandfather and grandmother both died. According to my father, they have raised six children all their lives. How worried they are! Especially for my father to study, it is not easy to work hard all my life. Seeing my father's sad expression when he worshiped them, I seemed to understand the meaning of "it rained in succession during the Qingming Festival, and pedestrians on the road wanted to break their souls".
My apricot blossom village, our meson push! Singing Tomb-Sweeping Day's tearful poems in my heart, thinking about the touching stories of the ancients. In the footsteps of following my parents' ancestor worship, and in the bleak atmosphere brought by the rocky graves, my Qingming Festival passed on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year.
In a few days, the traditional "Tomb-Sweeping Day" will arrive. This year, "Tomb-Sweeping Day" became a national festival. In the past two days, newspapers and TV have repeatedly reminded people to pay attention to traffic congestion and prevent mountain fires when paying homage to their ancestors, and even called on everyone to pay homage online. In any case, the ancients could not imagine how people today bowed down to their deceased ancestors with flowers and incense sticks in the crowded traffic and bustling crowd. "pedestrians on the road want to break their souls"? Besides such complicated work and life, people nowadays should also have many such emotions, right?
When can I go back to my hometown again, pay homage to my ancestors, "visit" my grandparents who have worked hard all my life, and then celebrate my "Qingming"? When Tomb-Sweeping Day comes, let me wish you happiness in heaven!