When is the off-year of 20 19? What is the custom of off-year

Today is off-year, you know? When people told me about off-year, I didn't know what off-year meant. Are many friends as unfamiliar as I am? Today, I will tell you the day of off-year and the customs of this day!

First of all, the time of off-year is different between north and south. Northerners celebrate the Lunar New Year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, while southerners celebrate it on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Although only every other day, the customs of off-year are similar. As soon as the new year arrives, the signal to go home begins to ring. Looking forward to going home to little reunion.

The origin of off-year

In ancient times, there was a tradition of "three officials, three people, four boats and five people", that is to say, the official's off-year is the 23rd lunar month, the people's home is the 24th lunar month, and the houseboat is the 25th lunar month.

December 20 and 24 of the lunar calendar are traditional days of offering sacrifices to stoves in China, also known as "off-year".

Off-year is also the last day for people to prepare new year's goods. On this day, people began to invite the kitchen god and began to clean up simply. The new year should have a new atmosphere. China people like to bid farewell to the old year, welcome the new year and receive blessings.

In China, the position of the kitchen memorial day is second only to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Family members who are officials, businessmen and studying abroad take the kitchen sacrifice day as the dividing line. People need to go home before the kitchen sacrifice day and eat their own candy for the blessing of the kitchen god and the safety of the whole family in the coming year.

In fact, the concept and date of off-year are very different in different places. In addition to the north and south, the north is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and some parts of the south are the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai also call "the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" and "the night before New Year's Eve" off-year.

The origin of kitchen sacrifice day

In history, Zhang Sheng, the kitchen god, was a civilian. After marriage, he still remains the same. After a few years, his fortune was ruined. Later, he was reduced to begging in the street. One day, he begged in front of his ex-wife, ashamed, and plunged into the kitchen fire.

The jade emperor later learned about it, thinking that Zhang Sheng could change his mind, and the result was not bad. Because he died at the bottom of the pot, he was named the kitchen god.

Report to the sky on December 23 and 24 every year, and return to the bottom of the stove on New Year's Eve. People in China believe that food is the most important thing for the people, and the kitchen king has also indicated whether he can have enough food in the coming year.

The people think that the kitchen god must be respected because he wants to repay the kindness to heaven.

As a result, the people had the "off-year" of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and also had the meaning of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god to speak well in front of the Jade Emperor.

Off-year custom

King Ren, according to folklore, every year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Kitchen God will tell the Jade Emperor about the good and evil of this family and let the Jade Emperor reward and punish them. Every family must have a kitchen god, which is common in rural areas. In the yard, on special days, small doors made of small bricks are placed inside, and sacrifices are placed inside.

According to the report of Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted the family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year.

Therefore, when sending stoves, people put candy, water, beans and grass on the console table in front of the kitchen god statue; Among them, the last three are the mounts of the kitchen god ascending to heaven.

When offering sacrifices to the stove, you should melt the Guandong sugar with fire and put it on the mouth of the kitchen god. In this way, he can't speak ill of the jade emperor

The history of sacrificial stoves

The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves has a long history. Kitchen God, in the Xia Dynasty, has become a respected god. In the Analects of Confucius, which describes Kong Qiu's words and deeds in the Spring and Autumn Period, there is a saying that "it is better to be charming than beautiful."

In the pre-Qin period, the sacrificial furnace was one of the "five sacrifices" (the five sacrifices were the five gods of sacrificial furnace, gate, line, household and thunder).

Kitchen God himself has long been known as Yan Di and Zhu Rong. In the Jin Dynasty, it was said that he was the god of life, who specially supervised the good and evil on earth. During the prosperous period of Taoism in China, there was even a saying that Kitchen God was an old woman.

Sacrificial map

At present, the most common image of the kitchen god among the people is that the east chef points to the kitchen god to pray for blessings, that is, an old couple sits side by side, or a man and two women sit side by side, that is, the portrait of the kitchen god couple.

Stick to the image of the kitchen king

The idol of the kitchen god is used to sticking on the wall next to the kitchen stove, facing the bellows. The couplet reads "Heaven speaks well, the lower bound is safe", and the next couplet also reads "Go back to the palace for good luck". In the middle is the idol of the husband and wife in the kitchen, and two horses are often painted next to the idol as mounts. When offering sacrifices to the stove, offerings should be displayed, the most prominent of which is honeydew melon. So that its "sweet mouth" can only say good things.

Custom of sending stoves

Sending stoves is mostly held at dusk, sending incense and wine, and scattering horse material for the kitchen god's mount. Horse material scattered from the front of the stove to the outside of the kitchen door.

After these ceremonies, the Kitchen God will be taken down and burned. Wait until New Year's Eve to set up a new idol.

What to eat in off-year:

The festival of offering sacrifices to stoves is to eat jiaozi in the northern off-year period, which means "look down on the windward side of jiaozi". In mountainous areas, we eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles. On the day of offering sacrifices to stoves, besides eating stove candy, burning is also one of the most iconic seasonal foods in an extremely important season.

There are two folk songs about offering sacrifices to stoves:

twenty-three

, send the master to heaven; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, steamed dumplings; Twenty-six, cut meat;

Twenty-seven, tin cleaner; Twenty-eight, sloppy; Twenty-nine, washing feet; On the 30th, the door gods and couplets were pasted together.

Twenty-three, offering sacrifices to the stove, the children clapped their hands and laughed.

In five or six days, the new year will come, and the new year's box will ward off evil spirits, hit walnuts and throw two cannons. Ping-pong rings when Wuzi graduated from college, and the fire rises higher than the sky. So the new year began!

have a bath

Wear new clothes in the new year. Pay special attention to those days of Chinese New Year. Adults and children need baths and haircuts. There is also a saying among the people that "people have money but no money and shave their heads for the New Year". In Luliang area, there is a custom of washing feet on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month.

When preparing for a rest one day, there will definitely be a mother-in-law washing her feet in full bloom. For girls who are not sensible, adults should also help her wash her feet without leaving dirt.

marry

After the age of 23, many people get married. The wedding day after the age of 23 is considered to forgive everything. During that time, there was no need to choose a day to marry a wife and hire a daughter. This is a good day. And that time was also called rushing to get married.