The origin and customs of the small year festival

1, the origin of the annual festival: December 23 and 24 of the lunar calendar, is the traditional Han Chinese folk festival stove day, also known as "small year". Legend has it that Zao Wang Wang was originally a commoner Zhang Sheng, after marrying his wife, he spent his days drinking and losing his family business to the streets begging. One day, he begged to his ex-wife Guo Dingxiang home, ashamed, head to the bottom of the stove pot burned to death.

2. When the Jade Emperor found out about it, he thought that Zhang Sheng could return to the bottom of the pot, not bad enough, since he died at the bottom of the pot, he made him the King of the Stove, and reported to heaven on the 23rd and 24th of the Lunar New Year every year, and then returned to the bottom of the pot on the New Year's Eve. The people felt that the Zaowang must be honored, because he had to go to heaven to report. Thus, the Han Chinese folk have the Lunar New Year, the 23rd and 24th of the stove "small year", praying for peace and prosperity in the coming year.

3. Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty said in his poem "Poem for Zaos", "It is said that on the twenty-fourth day of the Lunar New Year, Zaojun wants to speak to the sky. The clouds, the wind and the horses stayed a little, and the family had cups and plates of plentiful rituals. The pig's head is rotten and hot, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste is sweet and loose. Men offer their daughters to avoid it, and sprinkle wine and burn money to make Zaojun happy. Handmaiden struggle Jun do not hear, cats and dogs corner filth Jun do not anger; send Jun drunken full boarding heaven's gate, ladle long ladle short do not repeat the cloud, begging for profit to return to share." It can be said that this poem is a very graphic illustration of the customs of the ancient Han people about the sacrificial stove. Of course, this is only a Han folk legend, is not enough to believe.

4. Customs: Sacrifice to the God of the Stove. The Lunar New Year on the 23rd day of the month of Lunar New Year has a close relationship with the God of Zao, who is said to be responsible for the management of each family's stove fire, and is worshipped as a family's protective deity. Every year on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, the God of Zao ascends to heaven to report the good or bad deeds of the family to the Jade Emperor in the sky, who, based on the report of the God of Zao, then puts into the hands of the God of Zao the destiny of good or bad fortune that the family should receive in the new year. Therefore, for a family, the Zaowang master's report is of great interest. Therefore, on the evening of the New Year's Day, every family would offer incense to the Zao Wang, who is located in the shrine on the wall of the stove, and offer sugar melons made of caramel and flour. In the northern part of the Jin Dynasty, there is a folk song that says, "On the 23rd day of the Lunar New Year, Grandpa Zaojun went up to heaven and ate sugar and molasses in his mouth, and he was not allowed to speak in front of the Jade Emperor, so he came back to our home for the New Year, and he had rice and noodles and clothes to wear.

5, cut window paper. Paper-cutting is the most prevalent folk activities in the New Year, the arrival of the New Year, everyone will cut and paste the window, in preparation for the arrival of the New Year. The content of paper-cutting is various, such as magpies, swallows, peacocks, peonies, mandarin ducks and so on.

6, eat dumplings. On the day of the New Year, in addition to sacrificing to the stove, the folk are also talking about eating dumplings, 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 has "twenty-three, do not eat fried, the beginning of the year - a pot down" said.

7, sweeping dust. Because after the New Year, the Spring Festival is only six or seven days left, so everyone is one after another to start preparing for the New Year. Sweeping the dust is also one of the customs after the New Year. In many places, the New Year's Day is designated as the "House Sweeping Day", in order to get rid of the old and welcome the new, and to remove the bad luck. Therefore, in the New Year, everyone will be serious and thorough cleaning, so that the windows are clean.