A detailed introduction to the origin and customs of off-year

According to legend, Kitchen God was originally a civilian, Zhang Sheng. After marriage, he spent all his time drinking, losing everything and begging in the streets.

One day, he begged at his ex-wife Guo Dingxiang's house, ashamed and burned to death under the stove.

When the Jade Emperor knew about it, he thought that Zhang Sheng would change his mind, and it wouldn't be bad in the end. Because he died at the bottom of the pot, he was named the kitchen god. Every year, he went to heaven on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month and returned to the bottom of the stove on the New Year's Eve.

The people think that the kitchen god must be respected because he wants to repay the kindness to heaven. Therefore, people celebrate the "off-year" on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, praying for peace and wealth in the coming year.

2. Off-season customs

(1) Sacrificial focus

Off-year is also a day of folk sacrifice. According to folklore, every year on the 23rd day 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. Therefore, when sending stoves, people put candy, water, beans, couplets and grass on the console table in front of the kitchen king 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 In addition, on New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God will bring the gods to the world for the New Year, and there will be ceremonies of "receiving the kitchen" and "receiving the gods" on that day. Every family burns sedan chairs and horses, sprinkles three glasses of wine, and sends away the kitchen god, so it's their turn to worship their ancestors.

Buy a new portrait of Kitchen God after Chinese New Year and invite Kitchen God back. In these intervening days, without the supervision of the kitchen god, most people overeat and gamble, indulging in some small mistakes that they usually think should not be made.

(2) Cleaning

Dust removal is mainly to clean the house thoroughly. Housewives usually cover the bed furniture in the room first, wrap their heads with headscarves, and then sweep the walls up and down with a broom. Clean the house, scrub the tables and chairs, and clean the floor. After cleaning the house, the shops and residents' homes are completely new. The newly posted Spring Festival couplets are bright and dazzling, showing the prosperity of the world. Lifelike door gods, looking up at happy banners, exquisite window grilles, colorful New Year pictures, colorful lanterns and rich sacrifices on shrines all present a festive scene.

(3) Bathing and haircut

There is a folk saying that "if you have money, you can cut your hair to celebrate the New Year". Bathing and hairdressing activities are mostly concentrated around off-year.

(4) eager to get married

After the age of 23, people think that the gods have gone to heaven and everything has been forgiven. You don't have to choose a date to marry a daughter-in-law and prostitution. This is called rushing to get married. The folk song is "busy marriage in the countryside, Yichun posts tease spring scenery." Sisters talk privately in front of the lights. This year is the bridal chamber.

(5) Eat honeydew melon and sesame candy.

Candied melons, caramel, sesame candy and other foods, originally for the mouth of the kitchen god, gradually evolved into snacks that children must eat in their early years. There is a saying in the northwest of Shanxi that "you can't chew your fingers with sesame candy."

(6) Paste the grille

After the window grilles are finished, they are pasted in a clean room, which adds a lot of joy to the family for the New Year.

There are various animals, plants and figures in the window patterns, such as magpies climbing plum blossoms, peacocks beating peonies, lions rolling hydrangeas, three sheep (Yang) opening Thailand, two dragons playing pearls, deer crane (Liuhe Tongchun), five bats (Fu) holding longevity, rhinoceros looking at the moon, lotus (Lotus) playing with water and bangs, etc.