Cold Food Festival
| Cold Food Festival | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Hanshi Festival (寒食節) |
| Also called | Cold Food Festival |
| Observed by | Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese |
| Type | Cultural |
| Begins | 105th day after dongzhi (April 5) |
| Ends | 107th day after dongzhi (April 7) |
| Frequency | annual |
| Related to | Tết Hàn Thực, Hanshik (한식) |
| Cold Food Festival | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | |||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | |||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||
| Vietnamese | Tết Hàn Thực | ||||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||||
| Hangul | 한식 | ||||||||||
| Hanja | |||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Hánshí Jié |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | Hon4sik6 Zit3 |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Hanshik |
| McCune–Reischauer | Hansik |
The Cold Food Festival or Hanshi Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated for three consecutive days starting the day before the Qingming Festival in the Chinese Calendar, which falls on April 5 by the Gregorian calendar, except in leap years (the 105th day after dongzhi). It is celebrated in China as well as the nearby nations of Korea and Vietnam. At this time of year, the sky becomes clearer and buds sprout in the field. Farmers sow various seeds and supply water to their rice paddies.
Despite the legend surrounding the festival, there are no evidences that established the relationship between the festival and Jie Zitui, nor any evidence of Jie Zitui cutting off his flesh for the Prince to eat. Historical researches indicated that it was more likely related to an ancient tradition of changing the fire during spring.。 In ancient China, Ancient Chinese will use different types of wood for ceremonial fire that was changed according to the seasons. Thus, during the period between the change of wood and thus the arrival of the new fire, it was prohibited to light any fire, even for cooking.
During the Spring and Autumn period, Prince Chong'er of the state of Jin endured many hardships while he was exiled from his home state because of the Li Ji Unrest. While heading towards the Beidi, only 15 men accompanied him, one being his friend and subject Jie Zitui (介子推; or Jie Zhitui 介之推). Jie Zitui was the only one who followed the prince through his 19 years of hardships, seeing his final ascension to the throne as Duke Wen of Jin.
Once, when Chong'er and Jie Zitui passed through the State of Wey, all their provisions were stolen. In order to help the prince who was tormented by hunger, Jie Zitui cut off the flesh from his thigh and offered it to the prince for sustenance.
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Wikipedia