What does off-year mean? What is the origin of off-year

Off-year, not just a day, is called "off-year" because of local customs. During the off-year period, the main folk activities include sweeping dust and offering sacrifices to stoves. Traditionally, the day of offering sacrifices to stoves is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the ancient tradition of celebrating the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is still maintained.

Since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperor's family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save money", they also pay homage to the kitchen god, so most northern regions celebrate the off-year holiday on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

Off-year has different concepts and dates in different places, with the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th of the twelfth lunar month in most parts of the south. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai call "the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month" and "the night before New Year's Eve" off-year, Nanjing calls it the Lantern Festival holiday on the 15th day of the first month, the 16th day of the first month in some parts of Yunnan, and New Year's Eve in some ethnic minority areas in the southwest and north.

The moral of off-year:

Lunar calendar1February 23rd and 24th are the traditional days of offering sacrifices to stoves for the Han people, also known as "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, the Han people celebrate the "off-year" on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, praying for peace and wealth in the coming year.