1. What does the paper hanging in Tomb-Sweeping Day mean?
"Hanging paper" is a common name for sweeping graves, also called "pressing paper", which means repairing houses for ancestors.
Paper-cutting on the riverside at Qingming Festival mainly refers to hanging paper for cutting graves, and the paper-cutting method requires white paper and scissors. Before and after Tomb-Sweeping Day went to the grave, he was also very particular about hanging paper and cutting paper. Long hanging paper can be colored and have different classifications in shape.
In ancient times, Tomb-Sweeping Day mainly cut by hand. People hang paper strings cut from colored or monochromatic paper on graves, whose main function is to arouse the souls of the dead. This kind of hanging paper is also called "hanging Qing", and it is also a sign of whether a family has successors and whether future generations have filial piety. As the saying goes, "there is white paper hanging on the grave with children, and there is shit on the grave without children."
Second, why hang paper?
Qin Shihuang needed a lot of bricks and stones to build the Great Wall. The Great Wall was soon repaired. Bricks can't burn, and stones can't be dug. Qin Shihuang issued an imperial edict to remove all the bricks and stones from the tomb and carry them to repair the Great Wall. At that time, Qin Shihuang's father had just died a few days ago. If the grave is dug, so will his father's grave.
1, he called the minister who dug the grave to him and said, "Don't dig the marked grave." According to the custom, after burying a person, it is called inserting a coffin in a new grave. Soul guides are all cut out of white paper, swaying in the new grave by the wind, which is very eye-catching
2. The ministers who dug the grave went to the grave of Qin Shihuang's father and saw a piece of white paper hanging, thinking it was a mark, so they stopped digging the grave. When people saw white paper hanging on the grave, they cut it out and hung it on the grave when they went to the grave. In this way, handed down from generation to generation, has become a custom.