What does off-year symbolize?

Off-year symbolizes the beginning of the Spring Festival and is the prelude and overture of the Spring Festival.

Off-year is also considered as the beginning of a busy year, which means that people begin to prepare new year's goods, sweep dust, offer sacrifices to stoves and so on. And prepare for a clean and beautiful year to express people's good wishes to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Off-year is a traditional festival of Han nationality in China, also known as Xie Zao, Zao Zao Festival, Zao Wang Festival and Zao Zao Festival. The dates vary from place to place, falling on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month (the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year in some areas such as Sichuan and Guizhou, and the 15th is the New Year).

Off-year means good luck, peace and happiness, etc. Off-year is considered as the beginning of a busy year. On this day, every household should offer sacrifices to the kitchen god, so as to pray for family safety in the new year to the gods and place their good wishes on the people to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters.

Off-year taboo

1, women don't sacrifice stoves.

There is a folk saying that men don't go to Yue Bai and women don't sacrifice stoves, which means that men can't go out to enjoy the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and women don't participate in the sacrifice stoves on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.

2. The whole family goes to sacrifice the stove

There is a folk proverb that the whole family will come to the kitchen, not the kitchen, which means that people who leave home will return home before the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to prepare for the Chinese New Year.

3. Avoid mashing garlic

Pouring garlic is prohibited in some areas next year. According to the older generation, if you pound garlic next year, you will have no luck in the new year.

4, avoid killing

Some rural areas are forbidden. The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional off-year holiday. Don't slaughter animals during the holidays. Animals are also creatures. Don't be angry when you are young.

5. Don't send steamed bread.

Don't send steamed bread during the off-year period. People think that steamed stuffed buns in the early years are used to worship the heavens and ancestors and are not suitable for giving away.

6. Don't borrow anything

In some rural areas, it is forbidden to borrow things from others in off-year and from other people's homes, because off-year is as important as New Year's Day, and borrowing and being borrowed have bad meanings.