When is off-year?

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is called off-year, which began in the middle and late Qing Dynasty. On this day, the emperor's family will hold a sacrificial ceremony, and then the kitchen god will pay homage. The people in the northern region will also follow the royal action, so it is called off-year, because the kitchen god will deliver it in advance.

First, the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month was originally a festival for offering sacrifices to stoves.

In our traditional culture, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people clean up, eat some sweets and melons, and then send the kitchen god to heaven. In traditional culture, the Kitchen God is responsible for protecting the kitchen fire in every household. On this day, people will burn the statue of Kitchen God, which has been consecrated at home for a whole year, and Kitchen God will return to heaven to report the achievements and good and evil of the people he protected this year. Why eat candy on this day? Because I want to block the kitchen god's mouth so that he won't speak ill of the jade emperor.

Second, the custom of sending the kitchen god

With the development of the times, people will do this only in rural areas or areas that attach importance to tradition. Even in some remote rural areas, people will hold celebrations, such as carrying the kitchen god to every household, which shows that they will send the kitchen god to heaven and report their work together. And some first-and second-tier cities will only buy some sweets for their children or clean up their homes on this day, which indicates that all the dirt in this year will be cleaned up to welcome a new beginning, and I hope there will be a good sign next year.

Third, the significance of off-year

Because most people will start cleaning their homes after sending Kitchen God, and in our tradition, the real Chinese New Year is not the moment when the time span is 1, 1, but the end of the Spring Festival every year. Therefore, cleaning the house and making it look brand-new is the beginning of welcoming the New Year in people's eyes, so the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is also called the New Year. The real Spring Festival is Chinese New Year, and it can't be regarded as Chinese New Year before it has passed.