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The Winter Clothes Day The Winter Clothes Day, Tomb-sweeping Day and Hungry Ghost Festival are the days for people to offer sacrifice to their ancestors. The Winter Clothes Day falls on the first day of Lunar October. October first of the lunar calendar has come into winter, thus people feel cold, which makes them miss the dead. To protect their ancestors against the cold in the netherworld, people send clothes to them, which’s why we call it the Winter Clothes Day. On October first, Chinese people burn clothes made of colorful papers in front of graves to their ancestors to keep them warm. At the same time, the day marks the arrival of the dead of winter. Consequently, it’s the day for parents and lovers to send clothes to the livings who they care about. As time goes by, the day becomes the festival for people to offer sacrifice to their ancestors.

The Origin

Meng Jiangnu Sent Winter Clothes Thousands Miles Away

According to a legend, the origin of the Winter Clothes Day is related to a beautiful and sad love story. In Qin Dynasty, the first emperor of Qin reunited China, and established a new country. However, he lived an extravagant and dissipated life, and recruited labors to build the Great Wall and his own mausoleum. It’s said that in Qin Dynasty, there lived a family named Meng who planted a gourd in their yard. The leaves and branches were so long that they stretched over the wall, and into the yard of their neighbor named Jian. Before long, the neighbor named Jiang had a giant gourd in their yard. When the gourd became mature, Meng and Jiang agreed to cut the gourd into two parts for each of them. However, when they cut it, they found an adorable girl there. Both of them love her very much. After discussion, they drew a conclusion that the girl was going to be nurtured by Meng. She was named Meng Jiangnu. When Meng Jiangnu grew up, she was very famous for she’s pretty, versatile and obedient. She was the apple of the two families’ eyes. One day, when Meng Jiangnu was trying to pull a fan out of a pool, a young man named Fan Xiliang passed by, and saw her. He came to help her get the fan, and she thanked him. After she looked closely at the handsome youth, she chatted with him favorably. Gradually, they fell in love with each other. With their parents’ permissions, Meng Jiangnu married to Fan Xiliang.

On their wedding night, a contingent of troops broke into their house, and took Fan Xiliang away because he was recruited as a laborer by the first emperor of Qin to build the Great Wall far away. After Fan Xiliang was took away, Meng Jiangnu missed him day and night with great sadness and a heavy heart. On October first, it snowed heavily outside. She thought of that her husband left without taking any warm clothes to defend against the cold when she stared at the candles and the big snowfall, so she wiped tears sadly.Meng Jiangnu missed her husband so much that she had a dream. In her dream, she saw her husband standing on the Great Wall. Grabbing a spear, her husband was clothed in ragged garments in a world of ice and snow. When he fought against enemies, his head was cut off by an enemy, rolling down the Great Wall with blood everywhere. Meng Jiangnu woke up with screaming, and found it a nightmare. She strongly believed the dream meant something bad, therefore, she was determined to send clothes to him and to figure out what had happed. She made winter clothes for her husband overnight, and packed up her luggage, including her husband’s winter clothes. After saying goodbye to her parents, she left for the Great Wall to find her husband. Though she suffered a lot, with her determination and help from nice people, she finally reached the Great Wall which was building. Unfortunately, she was told that her husband had died of overwork and his body had buried under the Great Wall. Hearing the news, she was shocked and passed out. After wind woke her up, she couldn’t help bursting into crying. She beat the Great Wall hard, and called out her husband’s name when she cried. She cried for a while, and then censured the first emperor of Qin Dynasty for his tyrannies. With her accusations, sharp wind blew up, and furious billows rolled and came towards the Great Wall. Suddenly, a loud noise occurred, one part of the Great Wall collapsed, and a skeleton was showed up. Meng Jiangnu stayed with the skeleton and cried for seven days. Then, she burnt the winter clothes that she made for her husband. The ashes of winter clothes flied upward with wind, circled her for three times, and finally covered the skeleton steadily. Gradually, the legend of Meng Jiangnu sending winter clothes has evolved into a festival which people call the Winter Clothes Day.

Customs

Eating Glutinous Rice Mixed with Red Beans

In southern China especially Jiangsu Province, China, people eat a bow of glutinous rice mixed with red beans on the Winter Clothing Day to commemorate a shepherd boy who revolted against a landlord. It’s said that long time ago, there was an adorable shepherd boy who was born in a poor family. His parents couldn’t support him, so he made a living by shepherding for a landlord when he was a small child. One day, he was so careless that he didn’t take good care of those sheep, resulting in that those sheep fell into a valley and died. After hearing the news, the landlord was extremely angry. Consequently, he beat and scolded the shepherd boy constantly. The shepherd boy’s begging did not stop the landlord. When the shepherd boy felt that he’s going to die because of being beat, he picked up a knife next to him, and killed the landlord. The blood of the shepherd boy made glutinous rice on ground become red. By coincidence, that day was October first. As a result, people eat a bow of glutinous rice mixed with red beans on the Winter Clothing Day to commemorate a shepherd boy who revolted against a landlord.

Fighting A Battle with Pumpkins

The Bouyei nationality who lives in Guizhou Province, China celebrate the Winter Clothes Day by fighting a battle with pumpkins. According to a legend, the purpose of fighting a battle with pumpkins is to please ancestors, to scare ghosts away, and to protect earth. On October first in Chinese lunar calendar, teenagers of the Bouyei nationality choose a pumpkin from their gardens, and thrust the pumpkin with a sharp bamboo pole. When the ceremony of sending ancestors off is over, teenagers burn a bundle of incenses and stick them into pumpkins. Once the leader of their village shout, teenagers run to the wild, with bamboo poles held in their hands, to gather together with others from other villages. When they encounter teenagers from other villages, all of them pretend to abuse each other and to fight with each other with pumpkins. Finally, singing a song, they go back to their own villages smilingly.

Burning Winter Clothes

On the day before October first in Chinese lunar calendar, the elders lead children and grandchildren to add soils to their ancestors’ graves. The soils should be carried by their clothes rather than baskets. The more soils they added, the more populations their families would have. On October first, in patriarch’s leadership, male carried foods and abundant tributes to worship ancestors’ graves, and to offer sacrifice to their ancestors. After the ceremony, what’s most important is to burn winter clothes made by colorful r paper, including red, yellow, blue, black and purple paper. There is a popular belief in China that if you want to deliver something to the dead, you must burn it completely. Otherwise, the dead could not receive it. This belief is linked with the story of Cai Mo burnt paper.The Winter Clothes Day is not only the day to deliver winter clothes to the dead, but also the day for the livings to prepare for the coming of winter. On that day, women take out winter clothes that they have made for their children and husbands, and ask them to try clothes on. Men are used clearing up fireplaces and chimneys to make sure that fireplaces and chimneys can keep the house warm when winter comes.

The Story of Cai Mo Burnt Paper

It’s also said that burning winter clothes on the Winter Clothes Day originated from a businessman’s promotion strategy. According to historical records, paper was invented by a man named Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). After Cai Lun invented the paper, many people came to his paper factory to purchase the paper. When Cai Lun’s sister-in-law named Hui Niang found that papermaking was profitable, she persuaded her husband named Cai Mo to learn papermaking form his brother. However, her husband was not very patient. He set up his own paper factory before he was skilled at making paper, leading to that no one came to his factory to buy paper because of its low quality. Hui Niang tried to help her husband get away from the trouble. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her mind. One night, she pretended to be ill and died. Her husband was extremely sad and guilty for he thought her death partly resulted from his behaviors. He blamed himself when he burnt the paper made by himself. Unexpectedly, a sound coming from the coffin appeared, which scared the people in mourning hall. It’s Hui Niang’s voice. She said, “Open the coffin, hurry up. I have come back”. When people opened the coffin, Hui Ning jumped out from it and told people, “Paper in this world is money in the nether world. I could not come back without my husband burning paper to me. The king of hell originally planned to torture me. Luckily, I used money to bribe the king of hell and ghosts. Then, they sent me back to earth”. Then, her husband took two piles of paper to burn to his parents, hoping it could make his parents have a better life in the nether world. After witnessing the function of paper, people in mourning hall started to buy the paper from Cai Mo’s paper factory to burn. The story of Hui Niang spread quickly, therefore, unmarketable paper of Cai Mo’s paper factory sold out within a few days. The day was October first of the lunar calendar when Hui Niang “returned back from hell”, so people gradually offered sacrifice to their ancestors in front of their graves by burning paper.

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