The origin and legend 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. What is the origin and legend of that off-year

First, the origin of 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. In different places, the date is different, and it is the 23rd or 24th or 25th of the twelfth lunar month (folklore experts say that there is a tradition of "three officials, four people, four boats and five people" in ancient times, that is to say, the official off-year is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the people's home is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and the houseboat is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. Like the north, before the Southern Song Dynasty, it was a political center and was greatly influenced by bureaucracy, so the off-year was mostly the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. On the contrary, the south is far from the political center, and the off-year is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Residents along the lake, such as Poyang Lake, keep the tradition of boating, and the next year is set on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. "No matter which day passes the off-year, people have the same desire to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new". In some areas such as Sichuan and Guizhou, the 30th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year, and the 15th of the first month is a big year. In some areas of Shandong, the off-year is the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month. Off-year is considered as the beginning of the New Year in China.

The Qing emperor began to offer sacrifices to the gods in Kunning Palace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to save money, the emperor also offered sacrifices to the kitchen god. Later, the royal family and Baylor followed suit and sacrificed stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Since then, there has been a division between the government and the people, and they live a small life on different days.

December 23rd and 24th of the lunar calendar are traditional days for offering sacrifices to stoves in China, 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, people celebrate the "off-year" on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, praying for peace and wealth in the coming year.

Second, the legend of off-year

1, Legend 1

According to folklore, the chef once specifically accused human beings of evil. Once charged, the life span of a felony will be shortened by 300 days, and that of a misdemeanor will be shortened by 100 days. In "Induction of Thai Merchants", there is also a description that "the company's life is important and its discipline is taken away". Siming refers to the kitchen king, counting one hundred days, and Kyrgyzstan refers to twelve years. Here, the felony penalty is increased to 12 years of life loss. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the stove, we should do something about it and ask it to be generous.

2. Legend 2

Legend has it that everyone is attached to a three-corpse god. He often reports to the Jade Emperor and speaks ill of the world. In a short time, the Jade Emperor received many tips from him, saying that the world was going to rebel against heaven. When the Jade Emperor saw this, he was furious. He immediately summoned three corpse gods and ordered him to write their crimes on the walls of people who spoke ill of the Jade Emperor, and then let spiders weave a big net and hang it under the eaves. The Jade Emperor also ordered Wang Lingguan to go to the lower bound on New Year's Eve, and all families marked by the Three Corpses God would be beheaded. Seeing that the plot was about to succeed, they could monopolize the beautiful world. The three resin gods quickly descended to earth and marked the walls of each house. The Kitchen God discovered the conspiracy of three corpse gods, and quickly found the kitchen gods of each family to discuss countermeasures: from the day the kitchen delivered it, every family should clean it up before New Year's Eve. When Wang Lingguan visited the lower bound on New Year's Eve, he found that every household was clean without any trace, and the people were quiet and hardworking. The Jade Emperor learned from Wang Lingguan and Chef Jun that the Three Corpses God had wronged a good man and was furious. He put the Three Corpses God in prison forever. Since then, this kind cook has been welcomed by everyone. It is also a folk custom to offer sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and sweep the dust on the 24th.

3. Legends 3

The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in Henan is accompanied by a bleak folklore. In ancient times, an old couple had only one son. They regard their son as the apple of their eye and love him very much. But because the family is poor, there is no way to go around the lake, so we have to reluctantly let our son go to the coal mine to dig coal.

The old man has missed his son for a long time. On this day, the old woman told the old man to visit the coal mine. On the way, the old man met a barefoot fellow traveler, and the two became more and more familiar and got along well. During the chat, the old man learned that Barefoot was instructed by Rebecca to find 100 miners in the mine. The old man was in a hurry and begged his son to stay barefoot. Barefoot generously agreed and told him not to tell anyone.

Seeing his son, the old man pretended to be ill, and his son was waiting around and unable to go down the well. Soon, something happened in the coal mine, and the old man hurried home with his son.

Three years passed in a blink of an eye. On the night of the twelfth lunar month, the old man remembered the risks of that year and couldn't help telling his wife. Who knows, this statement was heard by Chef Jun. On the evening of 23rd, Chef Jun went to heaven and told the Jade Emperor about it. The Jade Emperor became angry from embarrassment, and immediately punished the barefoot piece and took away the old man's son.

Because of this, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people respect Zhao Jun for eating sweets, hoping that he will stop gossiping when he arrives in the Heavenly Palace. As time goes by, people sacrifice stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

4. Legends 4

There is a very interesting story circulating among the people. It is said that in ancient times there was a family named Zhang, two brothers. The elder brother was a plasterer and the younger brother was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised his cooking. He has been famous for a long time, and calling him "King Zhang Zao" is thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he spent a lot of time, he never did housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the anniversary of Wang's death, in the middle of the night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He took his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall showing the appearance of the king and his dead wife, and the whole family was shocked. The painter said, "When I slept, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortal, and the Jade Emperor named him' Nine Days East Chef, and ordered the chef to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy, lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. My brother is very angry when he knows that you are going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on the evening of the 30th to punish you. " Hearing these words, the children's nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Pingping's favorite candy to the stove and begged the kitchen king to forgive them.

Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The whole family lives in harmony, young and old. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and every household's kitchen was labeled as the king of kitchens.

5. Legends 5

Legend has it that a long time ago, there were two immortals in the sky. Big fairy is called big year, and little fairy is called small year. Kind-hearted and caring. Every cold season, when the food is not long, I am afraid of starving the bad guys, so I scatter white flour in the sky for people to eat. Although Xiaonian is the elder brother of Chinese New Year, he has a bad mind. He used witchcraft to turn the white flour scattered to people in the New Year into snow seeds, which would starve to death and freeze his stomach. When he makes people sick, he becomes a beast with huge teeth and fangs and eats people. He eats people and eats their stomachs, so he lies down and sleeps. He can sleep for 360 days and eat people when he wakes up. Although people know it comes every 360 days, they can't hide anywhere. I had to burn incense and kowtow, and please be the host in the New Year.

In the New Year's dream, white flour turns into snow and people are sparsely populated. After listening to human prayers, I realized that it was the evil of off-year. He went to Xiaonian with anger and hate, but Xiaonian said indifferently, "Your own business, I'll eat my people, what's wrong with you?" When Niannian saw that he was unreasonable, he raised his hand and hit him. Who knows Xiao Nian is cruel? He knocks Da Nian to the ground with his backhand and says, "If you don't leave your mother alone, I will eat you!" " "

If you can't win in the next year, you have to go down to earth in person and say to people, "In the next year, you are naturally afraid of thunder and fire. When he comes again, you can burn bamboo with dry wood of Pinus tabulaeformis, form a circle, make a fire and sit in the middle. When it comes down, it can't eat people. " People remember the words on New Year's Day. After the Chinese New Year, dry wood and Chinese pine burned bamboo "bang bang" and burned people. It was so anxious that it couldn't grind its teeth and turn around, so it had to go back with an empty stomach. Knowing that this was the idea of Lunar New Year's Day, he went to play Lunar New Year's Day, but he couldn't help it and jumped into the burning circle of fire. Xiaonian gnashed her teeth and said, "When I practice my fire skills, I won't leave you a baby!" Sunrise and sunset, the grass is yellow. I didn't sleep for 3,599 days in the intense off-year and finally got the power of fire. One day, I will go down and make a fool of myself.

I am ready for the new year. He also didn't sleep for 3599 days. He practiced martial arts day and night, and the next day he would go down the mountain and have a big fight with Xiao Nian to protect mankind from harm. At 3600 noon, we met head-on in mid-air. Xiaonian knew that if he didn't get rid of the insecurity of Danian, he would start to fight. In the new year, they showed no weakness, and they played yellow wind to cover the sky. This is why it is windy and foggy in spring.

After playing for 32 days, I was in a hurry, and I was about to swallow the new year's goods with my mouth open. Danian hurriedly raised his hand, feeling thunder, but Xiaonian jumped up and hid in a high place. Danian caught up, and he kept shooting up. This is the reason for the muffled thunder on February 2.

Danian chased him for seventy-four days. Seeing that his palm could not beat him, he gave up. Xiaonian thought that his brother's thunder was over, and he turned over and rushed down to catch the New Year. Niannian dodged and raised her hand to pull out a snow-white bug from behind. I saw the long worm spit fire and went straight to burn next year. Before Xiao nian fled, the new year was full of thunder. Off-year flicker to avoid, mouth spit out a stream of black water, although the water can't put out the fire, wet the thunder, but also saved himself. Chasing and running in the new year, running in the new year, the earth shakes and the rain pours. This is the origin of summer rainstorm.

Tired of playing the next year, I plunged into the sea to sleep. In the new year, I quickly release sunlight to make the grain mature, so as not to be caused by