寒食节( Cold food festival )是汉族传统节日中唯一以饮食习俗来命名的节日，定于清明节(Tomb Sweeping festiva)之前一日，这一天有吃冷食、祭祀、踏青等习俗。寒食代表着人们对忠诚、廉洁、政治清明的赞许。
春秋时代，晋国公子重耳逃亡在外，生活艰苦，跟随他的介子推不惜从自己的腿上割下一块肉让他充饥。后来，重耳回到晋国做了国军，封赏有功之臣。
In the spring and autumn period， jin prince chong 'er is a fugitive， hard life， with his jie zitui willing to cut a piece of meat from his own leg let him。 Later， chong 'er did nations back to the state of jin， raised active subjects。
唯独介子推拒绝接受封赏。他带母亲隐居绵山，不肯出来。晋文公无计可施，只好放火烧山，逼其下山。谁知介子推母子宁愿被火烧死也不肯出来。为了纪念介子推，晋文公下令将绵山改名叫介山，并修庙立碑。同时，还下令在介子推遇难的这一天，《寒食禁火》，举国上下不许烧火煮食，只能吃干粮和冷食。
But jie zitui refused to accept the raised。 He brought his mother continous mountain seclusion， refused to come out。 Wandering there， so we have to set fire to the mountain， to force it down the mountain。 But jie zitui mother and child would burned to death will not come out。 In memory of jie zitui， duke wen ordered the continous the mountains called the interface， and repair the temple made a。 At the same time， also ordered in jie zitui died on this day， the cold food forbidden fire， the nation is not allowed to the fire cooking， can only eat solid food and cold food。
寒食节是在清明节的前一天，古人常把寒食节的活动延续到清明，久而久之，清明取代了寒食节。拜介子推的习俗也变成了清明扫墓祭拜祖先。为了使纪念祖先的仪式更有意义，应该让年轻一代的家庭成员了解先人过去的奋斗历史。
The Cold Food Festival occurs on the eve of Qing Ming and is often considered as part of the Qing Ming festival. As time passes, the Qing Ming festival replaced the Cold Food festival. The custom of worshiping jie zitui also became a custom of sweeping tombs and worshipping ancestors on tomb-sweeping day. To make the visit even more meaningful, some time should be spent to remind the younger members of the family of the lives and contributions of their ancestors.
寒食节、清明节常用到的中英文词语：
worshiping ancestors 祭祖
day of sacrifice 祭祀节日
offer sacrifices to ancestors 祭祖/上供
condolence 哀悼之情
hell note/joss paper 纸钱
burn incense 焚香
tomb-sweeping 扫墓
tomb sweeper 扫墓的人
willow branches inserted on each gate 门旁插柳
mourning ceremony 哀悼仪式
kite flying 放风筝
spring outing 踏青
