What is the origin of the Cold Food Festival?

"Cold Food Festival" is one of the oldest festivals in China. There are different opinions about whether the Cold Food Festival is the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day or a few days ago. Cold food, as the name implies, means eating cold food without making a fire. Why do people do this? This has to start with the origin of the Cold Food Festival. According to legend, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Jin Xiangong, the monarch of the State of Jin, had five sons, namely, Yi Wu, Qi and Zhuo Zi. Shen Sheng was born to the first lady of Jin Xiangong and was made a prince. Jin Xiangong's stepmother, Li Ji, conspired to kill Prince Shen Sheng in order to make her son a beautiful prince. In order to avoid the persecution of stepmother Li Ji, sons Zhong Er and Yi Wu fled abroad respectively. Jie Zhitui, a sage of Jin State, has been living in exile with Zhong Er through hardships. One year, Zhong Er was seriously ill during his exile, which made him very poor. In order to supplement nutrition for Zhong Er, who was seriously ill and weak, Jiezitui cut off the meat on his leg and cooked it into broth for Zhong Er to eat, which restored his health. After Jin Xiangong's death, his sons competed for the throne. After the exile of Di, Qi and Qin 19 years, Zhong Er, with the help of Mu Gong, the monarch of Qin, set out to attack and defeated Gongzi Wai (Zhong Er's half-brother), who had already become the monarch of Jin, and became the monarch of Jin, known as Jin Wengong in history. When Zhong Er became a monarch, he rewarded all those who followed him into exile according to their work. However, only the mesons that were particularly helpful to him were forgotten. Jiezitui was very sad and determined never to see Zhong Er again. Carrying his elderly mother, he went to his hometown Mianshan (now southeast of Jiexiu County, Shanxi Province) to live in seclusion. Knowing that Dai was wronged, Jiezitui's men posted an anonymous post on the palace gate, which read: "There is a dragon, running west and fleeing east;" A few snakes to help it succeed. Dragonflies fly to the sky, snakes get into holes; The other ran aground in the mountains. " Jin Wengong saw an epiphany. He recalled that meson tui was loyal to himself during his exile, but now he forgot to reward him as a monarch, and he was greatly disturbed. So, Zhong Er quickly sent someone to find meson push. Soon, a messenger reported that meson had been pushed to Mianshan to live in seclusion. Deeply ashamed, Jin Wengong personally took people to Mianshan to look for them, but meson tui avoided them. Jin Wengong knows that meson tui is a dutiful son. He set Mianshan on fire as suggested by others, leaving a way. He wants to use the fire in the forest to push the mother and son to avoid the fire. However, after burning for three days and nights, dozens of forests were burned to the ground, and there was still no meson pushing the mother and son. After the fire went out, he found that both his mother and son were holding a big tree and burned to death. Jin Wengong felt guilty about this, and was very sorry, so he ordered the mother and son to be buried in Mianshan, changed Mianshan to Jieshan, and built an ancestral temple. Later generations changed Jiexiu County to Jiexiu County. When the meson was pushed to death, it was the day before Tomb-Sweeping Day. Because he survived the fire, people in the state of Jin ate cold food and didn't set off fireworks on the day he died in memory of him. Later, people simply named it "Cold Food Festival". In the Tang Dynasty, the Cold Food Festival merged with Tomb-Sweeping Day, and the custom of forbidding fire in cold food gradually disappeared.