The origin and customs of off-year (photos) A brief introduction to the origin and customs of Dragon Boat Festival.

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.

In Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda said in "Poem of Sacrificing a Kitchen": "According to legend, there was a twelfth lunar month in ancient times, and the kitchen owner spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is rotten and hot, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste is Gan Song powder bait. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell the struggle of servants, and you are not angry about the horns of cats and dogs; I'll send you to Tianmen to get drunk. If you are long and short, don't go back to Yuntou and beg for points in the city. " It can be said that this poem vividly depicts the customs and habits of the ancient people in China who sacrificed stoves. Of course, this is just a folklore, which is not credible.

The custom of off-year

King of the people

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 will put candy, water, beans and kitchen couplets on the table in front of the statue of the kitchen king.

Grass; 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.

Sweep dust

1. After twenty-three, there are only six or seven days left before the Spring Festival, and the preparations for the Spring Festival are even more enthusiastic. To thoroughly clean the room, commonly known as sweeping the dust, sweeping the dust is to go to the old and welcome the new, and remove the ominous. Every household should be carefully and thoroughly cleaned to make the windows bright and clean. Paint walls, scrub glass, put up windows, put up New Year pictures and so on.

In the twelfth lunar month, every family is ready to welcome the New Year. In Beijing, the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is usually designated as "House Sweeping Day".

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 clean the dust.

Then sweep the wall 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.

Make window decorations and paper cuts

In all the preparatory work, window cutting and stick grilles are the most popular folk activities. There are all kinds of animal and plant stories here, such as plum blossoms of magpies, peach willows of swallows, peony of peacocks, rolling hydrangeas of lions, playing pearls of three sheep (Yang), playing pearls of two dragons, Toona sinensis of deer cranes (Liuhe Tongchun), longevity of five bats (Fu), moon-gazing of rhinoceros, Nianyu of Lotus (Lian) (the rest) and swimming of Yuanyang.

paste up Spring Festival couplets

Every household should write Spring Festival couplets. Folks pay attention to God stickers, which are posted by every household and everything, so Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most complete content. The couplets in front of the statues are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. Heaven and earth have something in common: "Heaven is as deep as the sea, and earth is as heavy as mountains"; Land God Union: "White jade is born in the soil, and gold is born in the ground"; Fortune Alliance: "The God of Wealth in the sky is the God of Wealth on earth"; Shen Jinglian: "Well can connect the whole world, and it is a custom to have a small family."

Up to three rivers. " The granary and the Spring Festival couplets in the granary are warm celebrations and expressions of hope. For example, "the grain is abundant and the six livestock are prosperous"; Rice noodles are as thick as mountains, and oil and salt are as deep as the sea "; Nanshan cattle are like tigers, and Beihai Ma Rulong "; The big sheep are flourishing year by year, and the little sheep are increasing month by month. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as "Looking up at happiness" posted in each room, "Going out to see happiness" posted across the door, "Soaring in the sky" posted on the fire, "The courtyard is full of gold" posted on the tree, and "Roots are deep and leafy" posted on the stone mill, and so on. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are particularly exquisite, lyrical or picturesque, rich in content and witty.

Dang bathing

Adults and children should take a bath and have their hair cut. There is a folk saying that "if you have money, you will shave your head for the New Year".

A proper marriage

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. Until the end of the year, there will be many wedding ceremonies. Folk songs include "busy marriage in Yan village, and spring scenery in Yichun post." The sisters in front of the lamp whispered privately, this year is the bridal chamber. " Do you have any relatives or friends having a wedding now? Send a card for your wedding!

Legend about off-year

Zaojun legend

Kitchen God, also known as Kitchen King, Kitchen King, Kitchen God, Chef, Chef, etc. , is the god of catering in ancient Chinese myths and legends. Kitchen God himself has long been known as Yan Di and Zhu Rong. Later, many statements were derived. After the Jin Dynasty, it was listed as a god who supervised the good and evil on earth. With the development of social production, since humans broke away from eating animals and drinking blood and invented fire food, stoves have gradually become closely related to human life. The worship of Kitchen God has become an important part of many worship activities. Therefore, in the Book of Rites Sacrifice Law, "Wang made seven sacrifices", that is, one sacrifice was a "stove", while Shu Ren made a sacrifice, "or set up a household or a stove".

In ancient China, there were activities of offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, Kitchen God had a name. Sui Du Taiqing's Collection of Jade Candles quoted the Kitchen Book as saying, "Kitchen God, surnamed Su, has a lucky name, but her female name is unfortunate". Tang Lixian quoted the Miscellaneous Five Elements Book and said, "The kitchen god is named Zen, the word Guo Zi, dressed in yellow clothes, wearing hair, and going out to the kitchen." There are many sayings that Kitchen God was a goddess at first, or an old woman or a beautiful woman. About the Qing Dynasty's Encyclopedia of Respect for Zhao, Zhao Xiaonian's animation image standard.

Your family name is Zhang, Mingbang and Zi Guo, and you are a male god. At present, the East Chef, who is worshipped by the people, ordered Fu Zaojun to sit side by side with an old couple or a man and two women, that is, the portrait of Zao Jun and his wife.

After the prosperity of Taoism in China, the kitchen god was described as the mother god in Jing Shuo. "People's residence. At twelve o'clock, be good at knowing human affairs. Remember good and evil and their merits and demerits every month, remember their severity, play Cao Shen in the middle of the night and set his book. " Later, it developed into grandparents. In different regions, Zhao Jun and his wife are played by different candidates, accompanied by popular local folklore stories.

Legend of Kitchen God: According to legend, Kitchen God is the supervisor sent by the Jade Emperor to every family, and will go to heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in the sky. Upon hearing this, the Jade Emperor gave all the good and bad fortune that the family should get in the new year to the Kitchen God. Therefore, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, when people "send stoves", they should present honeydew melons made of caramel and flour, paper horses made of bamboo sticks and fodder for animals, so that the kitchen god can be sweet, the god can speak well and enter the palace with good luck!