What day is December 17th in the lunar calendar?

The seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day of offering sacrifices to the old gentleman.

Every region has a different day to offer sacrifices to the old gentleman in Taishang, some are on the seventeenth, some on the twenty-third and some on the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month.

The old gentleman in Taishang is one of the moral gods in the "Sanqing" of Taoism, whose full name is "Taiqing Moral God". Too old gentleman is different from Laozi, Laozi is its incarnation. According to Records of the Historian, Laozi was a historian of the Zhou Dynasty. He constructed a unique Taoist theory, was one of the founders of the Taoist school, and was regarded as the ancestor of Taoism by later generations. This is Laozi in history.

The culture of offering sacrifices to the old gentleman

In addition to the 17th and 18th of the twelfth lunar month, Zezhou people will also offer sacrifices to the old gentleman on February 15th, June 24th and October 15th. In rural Zezhou, laojunmiao is built in almost every village. On the special sacrifice day, the owner needs to prepare complete beef and mutton and burn paper in front of the statue of Laojun to pray for peace and prosperity in the coming year.

It is worth noting that when offering sacrifices to the old gentleman, the incense used should not be sandalwood, and the fruit as a tribute should not be pomegranate and plum, which is a customary rule in Taoist culture. Some families will worship the statue of the old man at home, or prepare a room for him alone, or put it solemnly in the hall.