When is off-year?

In China, off-year is not a festival, because the customs are different, and the days called off-year are different. In most parts of the north, the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month is called off-year. Many areas in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai call the fifth day of the first month off-year; Many areas in China also call the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month off-year, and some places call the winter solstice off-year. In some places (such as Shanghai), people are used to calling the day before New Year's Eve New Year's Eve.

Generally speaking, the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year in most parts of China. Off-year is usually considered as the beginning of the New Year (Spring Festival). After the New Year, there are only six or seven days left before the Spring Festival, which means that people begin to prepare new year's goods, and at the same time, they should thoroughly sweep the dust, bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

Legend has it that off-year is the day when the kitchen god went to heaven in China traditional mythology, so many customs of off-year are related to the kitchen god. There are many stories about off-year, among which there are many versions of the legend about the kitchen god, and the most popular version is about the kitchen god. Agent? This story. According to legend, Zhao Jun is a little fairy specially sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise all kinds of life, and she often reports to the Jade Emperor. He committed a minor crime and lost his life in 100 days; Commit a major crime and lose 300 days of life. The following are off-year legends and stories collected by Lao Liu, please enjoy them.

Legend 1

According to folklore, the chef once specifically accused human beings of evil. Once charged, the life span of a felony will be shortened by 300 days, and that of a misdemeanor will be shortened by 100 days. What is it in the "Taiwanese induction"? The teacher's life depends on it and takes its discipline? Account. Siming refers to the kitchen king, counting one hundred days, and Kyrgyzstan refers to twelve years. Here, the felony penalty is increased to 12 years of life loss. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the stove, we should do something about it and ask it to be lenient.

Legend 2

There is a very interesting story circulating among the people. It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers. The elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised his cooking. He has been famous for a long time, and calling him "King Zhang Zao" is thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute.

When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he spent a lot of time, he never did housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the anniversary of Wang's death, in the middle of the night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He took his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall showing the appearance of the king and his dead wife, and the whole family was shocked. The painter said? When I slept, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortal, and the Jade Emperor named him? Nine Dong Tian Chu four Ming made Wang Fujun? . You are always lazy, lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. My brother is very angry when he knows that you are going to break up. He will tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on the eve of 30th to punish you. ? Hearing these words, the children's nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Pingping's favorite candy to the stove and begged the kitchen king to forgive them.

Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The whole family lives in harmony, young and old. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside and every household.

Legend 3

Legend has it that everyone is attached to a three-corpse god. He often reports to the Jade Emperor and speaks ill of the world. In a short time, the Jade Emperor received many tips from him, saying that the world was going to rebel against heaven. When the Jade Emperor saw this, he was furious. He immediately summoned three corpse gods and ordered him to write their crimes on the walls of people who spoke ill of the Jade Emperor, and then let spiders weave a big net and hang it under the eaves. The Jade Emperor also ordered Wang Lingguan to go to the lower bound on New Year's Eve, and all families marked by the Three Corpses God would be beheaded. Seeing that the plot was about to succeed, they could monopolize the beautiful world. The three resin gods quickly descended to earth and marked the walls of each house. The Kitchen God discovered the plot of three corpse gods, and quickly found the kitchen gods of each family to discuss countermeasures: from the day the kitchen delivered it, every family should clean it up before New Year's Eve. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household was clean without any trace, and the people were quiet and hardworking. The Jade Emperor learned from Wang Lingguan and Chef Jun that the Three Corpses God had wronged a good man and was furious. He put the Three Corpses God in prison forever. Since then, this kind cook has been welcomed by everyone. It is also a folk custom to offer sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and sweep the dust on the 24th.

Legend four

The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in Henan is accompanied by a bleak folklore. In ancient times, an old couple had only one son. They regard their son as the apple of their eye and love him very much. However, because the family is poor, there is no way to go around the lake, so we have to reluctantly let our son go to the coal mine to dig coal. The old man has missed his son for a long time. On this day, the old woman told the old man to visit the coal mine. On the way, the old man met a barefoot fellow traveler, and the two became more and more familiar and got along well. During the chat, the old man learned that Barefoot was instructed by Rebecca to find 100 miners in the mine. The old man was in a hurry and begged his son to stay barefoot. Barefoot generously agreed and told him not to tell anyone. Seeing his son, the old man pretended to be ill, and his son was waiting around and unable to go down the well.

Soon, something happened in the coal mine, and the old man hurried home with his son. Three years passed in a blink of an eye. On the night of the twelfth lunar month, the old man remembered the risks of that year and couldn't help telling his wife. Who knows, this statement was heard by Chef Jun. On the evening of 23rd, Chef Jun went to heaven and told the Jade Emperor about it. The Jade Emperor became angry from embarrassment, and immediately punished the barefoot piece and took away the old man's son. Because of this, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people respect Zhao Jun for eating sweets, hoping that he will stop gossiping when he arrives in the Heavenly Palace. As time goes by, people sacrifice stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

The Qing emperor began to offer sacrifices to the gods in Kunning Palace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to save money, the emperor also offered sacrifices to the kitchen god. Later, the royal family and Baylor followed suit and sacrificed stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Since then, officials and people have had different off-year lives.

In the folk, there are off-year? Three officers, four boats and five? Tradition, that is to say, the official off-year is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the people's family is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and the houseboat is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.

Before the Southern Song Dynasty, the north was the political center, which was greatly influenced by bureaucracy, so the off-year was mostly the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. On the contrary, the south is far from the political center, and the off-year is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Residents along the lake and the sea retain the tradition of boating, and the next year is set on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.

Festival custom

Sacrifice to the kitchen god

Off-year is a day for people to sacrifice their stoves. Because people in China basically eat rice, cooked food is generally difficult to preserve and must be cooked at any time. Unlike western bread, you can bake a lot at a time and keep it for eating. What about China people? Chai? Is it in life? Seven things? The most important thing is that even with basic food, you can't eat it without fuel, so every family in China should have a stove.

Because every family has a stove, there is a legend that the Jade Emperor stationed a supervisor in every family-Kitchen God (he ordered Kitchen God, Kitchen God, Kitchen God and Kitchen King) to supervise and inspect the family's actions for one year. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will report to the Jade Emperor, and the Jade Emperor will decide whether to reward or punish the family next year according to the report. The Kitchen God is the year after next. This day is actually a festival for every family to send the kitchen god to heaven.

When offering sacrifices to the stove, you should melt the Guandong sugar with fire and smear it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that he can't speak ill of the jade emperor. What else is there among the people? Men don't want Yue Bai, and women don't want to sacrifice stoves? Therefore, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god is limited to men.

sweep the dust

In other words, sweeping the year is actually cleaning up the family environment. Northerners say? Cleaning the house? ; Southerners say? Dust? . Traditionally, every household gets up at dawn on this day, cleaning houses and windows, washing clothes, scrubbing pots and pans, and carrying out thorough sanitation cleaning. According to the records in the Notes on Collection and Interpretation, this custom can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago, when it was a religious ceremony to drive away epidemic ghosts and pray for well-being. After that? Dust? With what? Chen? Homophonic, so sweeping dust means sweeping away old things, which refers to both the old dirt in the courtyard and the unhappiness encountered in the old year.

write Spring Festival couplets

After the New Year, every household should write Spring Festival couplets. People pay attention to it, and God will stick it, and doors will stick it, and things will stick it, so Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the statues are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which is particularly particular, lyrical or scenic.

Make window decorations and paper cuts

In all the preparatory work, window cutting and stick grilles are the most popular folk activities. There are all kinds of animal and plant stories here, such as plum blossoms of magpies, peach willows of swallows, peony of peacocks, rolling hydrangeas of lions, playing pearls of three sheep (Yang), playing pearls of two dragons, Toona sinensis of deer cranes (Liuhe Tongchun), longevity of five bats (Fu), moon-gazing of rhinoceros, Nianyu of Lotus (Lian) (the rest) and swimming of Yuanyang.

have a bath

Adults and children should take a bath and have their hair cut. Someone else? Have money and no money, shave your head for the New Year? Statement.

marry

After the age of twenty-three, people think that everything is forgiven by the gods. You don't have to choose a date to marry a daughter-in-law and prostitution. This is called rushing to get married. Until the end of the year, there will be many wedding ceremonies. Folk songs include "busy marriage in Yan village, and spring scenery in Yichun post." The sisters in front of the lamp whispered privately, this year is the bridal chamber. "