What festival is off-year?

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, all on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month (the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year in Sichuan and Guizhou, and the 15th of the first month is the first day of the New Year's Day). Off-year is considered as the beginning of the New Year in China.

Off-year is a day for people to sacrifice their stoves. It is said that on this day, Kitchen God will report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, and let him reward and punish it. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, you should melt the Guandong sugar with fire and put it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that he can't speak ill of the Jade Emperor. "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen" custom, so sacrifice to the kitchen is limited to men.

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. Therefore, for China people, "firewood" (fuel) is the first of the "seven things" in life (rice, oil, salt, sauce and vinegar tea). Without fuel, even with basic food, you can't eat it. In the west, it is generally enough for a village to have only one bread stove. In China, every family must 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. Kitchen Festival is actually a festival to send the kitchen god to heaven.