What to eat on the 23rd day of the first month

There are two customs about eating:

Eating dumplings

The festival of Zaobao, folklore, meaning "send off dumplings to meet the wind face". Mountainous areas eat cake and buckwheat. Jin Dongnan region, the popular custom of eating fried corn, folk proverb "twenty-three, do not eat fried, at the beginning of the year - a pot down," the saying.

Eating stove sugar

The old saying goes, "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky, stove master to the sky".

Eating Zao sugar, Zao sugar is a kind of malt sugar, sticky, it is drawn as a long sugar stick called "Guandong sugar", pulled into a flat round type is called "sugar melon". In winter, put it outside the house, because of the cold weather, the sugar melon solidified solid and some tiny bubbles inside, eat up the crunchy, sweet and crispy, a unique flavor.

True Kanto sugar is very hard, can not be broken, eat must be split with a kitchen knife, the material is very heavy and fine. Slightly sour taste, the middle of no honeycomb, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, the price is also more expensive. Sugar melons divided into sesame and no sesame two kinds of sugar made into melon shape or melon shape, the center is empty, the skin is not as thick as five points, although the size of the different, but the transaction is still calculated by the amount, the big sugar melons weighing one or two pounds, but used as a front to buy very few people.

Guandong sugar is also known as Zao Wang sugar, big sugar. In the year, only around the New Year's Eve is it sold. Guandong sugar is a sugar product made from malt and millet, and it is used for sacrificing to the God of Zao. The Qing Dynasty recorded in the "Yanjing Youshi ji" (Records of the Years and Years of the Qing Dynasty) that the offerings of the Qing Dynasty included "Guandong sugar" and "sugar cakes".

Guandong sugar in the northeast of the countryside, the city, the streets, alleys, markets, there are vendors selling: "big sugar, big sugar, and crispy and fragrant big sugar." Cream-colored cubes of sugar, placed on a square plate, usually three inches long, one inch wide, flat, in the form of silk strips. The newly made big lump sugar, when put in the mouth and bitten, is crispy and fragrant, sticky and has a special flavor, which is a kind of sugar that is very popular among men, women and children in Guandong. It has come down from the sacrificial table of Lord Zao and is widely enjoyed by the people.

Expanded Information:

In addition to eating it, there are also the following other customs

Zaozao Sacrifice

Sending Zaozao custom is extremely common in the north and south of China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote a poem entitled "Gengzi Zao Sending", which reads: "Only the chicken is sugar, and the clothes are for the petal incense. There are no long things in the house, not only the yellow sheep.

He said in the article "Zaojun's day": "the day Zaojun ascended to heaven, the street also sells a kind of sugar, the size of a mandarin fruit, where we also have this thing, but flat, like a thick small pancake. That's called 'Gum Tooth Molasses'. The intention was in inviting Zaojun to eat it and glue his teeth so that he could not flirt and speak ill of the Jade Emperor. "The allusion to the 'yellow sheep' in Lu Xun's poem comes from the Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Biography of Yin Zhi: "At the time of Emperor Xuan Di, Yin Zifang was a filial son with benevolence. Waxing morning cooking, and the stove God see, Zifang worship again to be celebrated; home has a yellow sheep, because of the sacrifice. Since then, after the storm to the rich. To know three generations, and then prosperous, so after often to wax day sacrifice stove and recommend yellow sheep." Yin Zifang saw the god of the stove, kill the yellow sheep sacrifice, and then made good luck, and from then on, the custom of killing the yellow sheep sacrifice to the stove has been passed down.

The offerings for Zaos in the Tang and Song dynasties were quite abundant. The Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda's "Zaosi words" made an extremely vivid depiction of the folk festival of Zaosi at that time: Ancient legend of the 24th day of the waxing moon, Zaojun wants to say something towards the sky. The cloud car, the wind and the horses stayed a little, and the family had cups and plates for the festival. The pig's head is rotten and the fish is fresh, the bean paste is sweet and loose, and the rice bait is round. Men offer their daughters to avoid it, and sprinkle wine and burn money to make Zaojun happy. Don't be angry at the maid's struggles, or at the cats and dogs that touch you. I will send you to the gate of heaven with a full stomach and a long spoon and a short spoon, so don't go back to the clouds and beg for a share of the profits.

The sacrificial stove on the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year is closely related to the New Year. This is because, a week later, on the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, Lord Zao comes to earth with the other gods with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Lord Zao is believed to lead the way for the gods in heaven. The other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, but only Zao Wangwang stays in people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for Lord Zao it is called "receiving the stove". The ceremony is usually much simpler on New Year's Eve, when you just need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche, and that's the end of it.

There is a saying that "men don't worship the moon, women don't worship the stove". In some places, women do not sacrifice the stove, it is said, Zaowang master looks like a white man, afraid of female sacrifice stove, there is a "male and female suspicion". The origin of Zao Wang Wang has a long history. Among the traditional folk gods in China, Zao is considered very old. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god honored by the people. According to the ancient book "Rituals - Rituals" Kong Yingda Shu: "Zhuanxu's son said Lai, Zhu Rong, sacrificed as the god of the stove." Zhuangzi - Dasheng recorded: "Stove has a bun." Sima Biao notes: "Bun, stove god, wearing red clothes, like a beautiful woman." It is also written in "Zuopu Zi Wei Ji" that "On the night of the moon's darkness, the god of the stove also goes up to the sky for the white man's sins." These records are probably the source of the sacrifices to the God of Vesta. In addition, it may be said that the god of the stove is the "flint man's" who drills wood to make fire; or it may be said that it is the "fire officer" of Shennong; or it may be said that it is the "Su Jili" who "made the stove for the Yellow Emperor"; or it may be said that the god of the stove is surnamed Zhang, list, and the word Ziguo; there are many different stories. The word "Ziguo" is also said to be the name of the god Zao, Zhang, list, and the character "Ziguo".

Because of the different customs in different places, the traditional folk have "jumping Zao Wang" and "playing Zao Wang" activities.

Sweeping the dust

After the Zaosai festival, preparations for the New Year officially begin. Every year from the twenty-third day of the lunar month to New Year's Eve, China's folk called this period of time "spring day", also known as "dust sweeping day". Sweeping is the end of the year cleaning, the north called "sweeping room", the south called "dusting". Sweeping dust before the Spring Festival is a traditional habit of our people. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean up the environment, cleaning all kinds of appliances, unwashing bedding curtains, sweeping the courtyard, dusting dust cobwebs, dredge the nullahs and ditches. North and south of the Yangtze River, everywhere overflowing with joy to engage in sanitation, clean and welcome the new year's atmosphere. [2]?

"Lunar New Year's Eve, dusting and sweeping the house" custom, has a long history. According to "Lv's Spring and Autumn Annals" records, our country in the era of Yao and Shun on the Spring Festival dust sweeping custom. According to folklore: because the "dust" and "Chen" homophonic, dust sweeping in the New Year has the meaning of "in addition to the new Chen Bu Xin", the intention is to put all the "poor luck! ", "bad luck" are swept out. This custom is the desire of the people to break the old, and the wish of the old and welcome the new prayers.

"Three corpses of God" Taoism said in the human body of the "God". According to the "three corpses in the scripture", "the upper corpse Peng 倨, in the human head; in the corpse Peng quality, in the human abdomen; the lower corpse Peng Jiao, in the human foot." It is also said that on the day of Gengshen, they would go up to heaven to tell the Emperor of Heaven about the sins of people; but as long as people stayed up all night on that day, they could avoid it, which is called "keeping Gengshen".

Cutting Window Decorations

Cutting window decorations and sticking them in a cleaned house adds a lot of joy to the home for the New Year.

Window decoration patterns have a variety of animals, plants, people and other palindromes, such as magpies, peacocks and peonies, and lions rolling embroidered balls. The lion rolls the embroidered ball, the three sheep (Yang) Kaitai Taikou.

Three sheep (Yang) Kaitai, two dragons play pearls, deer and crane Tongchun (six contracts spring), five bats (Fu) hold life, rhinoceros moon, lotus (even) year fish (Yu), mandarin ducks playing in the water, Liu Hai play gold cicada, and two immortals and so on.

Writing Spring Festival couplets

After the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, every family will write Spring Festival couplets. Traditional folklore emphasizes that every god must be posted, every door must be posted, and every object must be posted, so the Spring Festival has the largest number of couplets and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the deities are especially elaborate, mostly words of worship and prayers. Commonly, there are couplets for the God of Heaven and Earth: "Heaven's grace is as deep as the sea, and earth's virtue is as heavy as the mountain"; couplets for the God of Land: "White jade is created from the earth, and gold comes out from the earth"; couplets for the God of Wealth: "The God of Heaven's Wealth, and the God of Earth's Fortunes! The God of Wealth: "Lord of wealth in heaven, God of fortune and fortune on earth"; the God of Wells: "Wells can lead to the four seas, and families can reach the three rivers". Face grain silos, corrals and other places in the Spring Festival couplets, are expressed warm celebration and hope. Such as "grains, six animals thrive"; "rice and noodles as thick as mountains, oil and salt as deep as the sea"; "cattle like a tiger in the South Mountain, the horse like a dragon in the North Sea"; "sheep year after year, lamb month after month. Sheng, lamb monthly increase" and so on. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as each indoor sticker "look up and see joy", the door opposite sticker "go out and see joy", on the fire sticker "Wang Qi Chong Tian", the yard sticker "full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "the yard is full of gold", "the yard is full of gold". "Full of gold in the yard", "deep roots" on the tree, "White Tiger" on the stone mill, and so on. Couplets on the door, is the face of a family, special attention, or lyric, or write things, rich in content, wonderful words.

Bath and haircut

The folk have "money or no money, shaved head for the New Year". The activity of bathing and haircutting is mostly concentrated around the New Year.

Catch messy marriage

After the twenty-third, the folk believe that the gods have gone to heaven, there are no taboos. The people believe that the gods are in heaven and there are no taboos. The folk song has "the year yan countryside marriage busy, spring post to tease the spring light. Sisters talk to each other privately in front of the lamp, to keep the year is the cave" said.

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Reference:

Lunar New Year's Day 23rd Baidu Encyclopedia