What is the relationship between Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival?

Before the Tang and Song dynasties, Qingming was a solar term and Cold Food Festival a festival. Both have very early origins. Xiao Fang explains that the relationship between Cold Food Festival and Qingming gradually became complex due to their successive periods. "First, fire was prohibited during Cold Food Festival, while fire was permitted during Qingming Festival." "Cold Food Festival, as a festival, had a rich tradition, such as playing cuju, swinging, flying kites, visiting tombs and offering cold food. Originally, Qingming Festival had few customs, but later it gradually absorbed Cold Food Festival, shifting the customs previously associated with Cold Food Festival to Qingming Festival, and Cold Food Festival gradually declined. During the Tang Dynasty, Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival were celebrated simultaneously. After the Song Dynasty, Qingming Festival became a combined solar term and festival, becoming a major spring festival."

From visiting tombs and offering sacrifices to ancestors at ancestral halls, Qingming banquets, outings, kite flying, eating Qingming dumplings, Qingming rice, and drinking Qingming tea, Qingming Festival boasts a rich variety of unique folk activities. "This is because Qingming combines both natural and humanistic elements. It is both a natural solar term and a major spring festival in traditional society." Qingming Festival has rich customs, which can be summarized into two major festival traditions: one is to honor ancestors and remember the dead; the other is to connect with nature and cherish life. These two traditional themes have been passed down and continue to this day.