Can I clean the house on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month?

Yes, from this day on, people will enter the preparation stage of the Chinese New Year, killing pigs and sheep, buying oil and vinegar, grinding rice and noodles, steaming steamed bread and frying cakes, and especially cleaning. No matter how poor the family is, we should thoroughly clean the environment from the inside out.

A legend that swept through a year

It is said that this festival originated from the custom of "sweeping the year" in the Yao and Shun dynasties. It was originally a religious ceremony for ancient people to expel the epidemic. In the Tang Dynasty, "Sweeping the Year Wind" prevailed and became an activity to pray for a peaceful and auspicious New Year. Later, it developed into Dust Sweeping Festival (South) and General Cleaning (North). Because this is a civilized custom of cleaning and eliminating diseases, it has been handed down in the historical evolution and lasted for a long time.

In the north, it is called "house sweeping" or "house sweeping" or simply "dust sweeping", in the south it is called "dust dust" or "dust dust outside", and in the northeast it is called "big washing (happy) day". From the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to the Spring Festival, every day is a good day. You don't have to choose an auspicious day for weddings, funerals and weddings these days. It's always smooth sailing to do something big and small, let alone clean up. At this time, every household should carry out a general cleaning inside and outside, wash furniture, paint walls, put up windows, stick grilles, hang New Year pictures, wash clothes and quilts to welcome the Spring Festival.

There is also a custom in some areas, which is to send the "old stove master" to heaven. In the old days, on the evening of the Lunar New Year, people placed offerings, sealed incense and prayed for blessings, sent the Kitchen God to heaven, reported what happened in the past year to the Jade Emperor, and wrote down couplets of "God speaks well and goes back to the palace for good luck" and posted them on both sides of the Kitchen God to ensure the safety of all beings. There is also a legend that the ancients believed that there were three corpse gods in everyone, and they followed each other. These three corpse gods like to gossip and often tell stories in front of the Jade Emperor, making the world dark. On one occasion, they tipped off the Jade Emperor that the world was cursing the Heaven Emperor and was going to rebel. The jade emperor was furious and ordered people to investigate the three corpses in the lower bound. He marked the eaves of the rebels with cobwebs and ordered Wang Lingguan to work in the lower bound on New Year's Eve. Anyone marked by cobwebs will be beheaded. The behavior of the three-body was discovered by the chef, and he was shocked. He quickly discussed with Grandma Chef Wang a way to get rid of it. He told people that after he resigned from the kitchen, every household should have a general cleaning, dusting off cobwebs, removing stains, cleaning doors and windows, and cleaning up the house inside and outside. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that the windows of every household were bright and brightly lit, and people were beaming. There is no sign of any bad behavior. When the Jade Emperor heard this, he was furious. He kept the Three Corpses God in prison forever and forbade him to go to other people to do evil. The Jade Emperor also decided to visit the people in person on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. In order to thank the Kitchen God for avoiding disasters for the people, and to welcome the inspection of the Jade Emperor in the lower world, the people are always cleaned every year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. .

In fact, there is no need to stick to the 23rd or 24th for the folk Spring Festival dust sweeping. For example, it is our custom to clean the house in the twelfth lunar month, but we must choose an auspicious day. If it is not convenient to sweep the dust on Sunday, you can also sweep the beam head symbolically, and you can sweep it any day in the future. Some people don't even need to tie a broom, but use a dry sorghum root or stick to sweep or move the beams in the house, and then they can pick a good day to do the work. However, this work is the first indispensable work for the Chinese New Year every year, and it often ranks first. After three or five days in the twelfth lunar month, people often ask if the house has been swept; But it is generally believed that after twenty-three, every day is a good day, and any day can be swept away. There is a proverb that says, "Twenty-three, honey melon sticks, twenty-four, house cleaning, twenty-five, window pasting, twenty-six, meat cutting, twenty-seven, chicken killing, twenty-eight, noodle making, twenty-nine, quick brewing, thirty days, and jiaozi package." In this lunar calendar, there are two days related to cleanliness, which shows that people attach importance to "cleanliness" and folk customs.