Cold Clothes Festival: The first day of the tenth lunar month, sending winter clothes to the deceased

The first day of the tenth lunar month is the Cold Clothes Festival, also known as "October Morning" or "Ancestor Worship Festival". It is one of China's three major ghost festivals, the other two being Qingming and Zhongyuan.

On this day, the weather starts to turn cold. In many places in northern China, the custom is to send cold clothes to deceased relatives: using colored paper or white paper, cut into the shapes of cotton-padded clothes, shoes, hats, and quilts, put into paper bags, with the recipient's name written on them, and burned at crossroads or in front of graves at night.

When burning, a circle must be drawn with a small gap left, meaning that the cold clothes can be delivered to the ancestors' hands and not snatched away by other lonely ghosts and wild spirits. The paper bag must clearly state "Received by Ancestor [Name]", and some also write "Sent by descendant [Name]", like sending a courier package.

In some places, people also eat dumplings on this day, called "Welcoming the Cold", and some add clothes for the living.

Regarding its origin, there is a story: Meng Jiangnü heard that her husband was building the Great Wall, so she traveled a thousand miles to bring him cotton clothes, only to find that her husband had already died. Later generations, to commemorate her, send cold clothes to the deceased on this day. This custom is said to have existed since the Zhou Dynasty, passed down for two or three thousand years. It can no longer be seen in many cities now, but many people in the countryside still do it.

By the evening of the first day of the tenth lunar month, in the fields of northern rural areas, there are small bonfires everywhere, with a person squatting beside each fire, waiting for the paper to burn out, then sweeping the ashes together and covering them with soil.

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