When is the off-year holiday?

In China, the 24th (or 23rd) of the twelfth lunar month is called off-year.

"Off-year" does not refer to festivals. Due to local customs, festivals 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 China also call the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month off-year, and the solstice in winter is also called off-year.

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. For example, when offering sacrifices to a kitchen stove, you should melt the Kwantung sugar with fire and smear it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that he can't speak ill of the Jade Emperor.