What do you do in the south?

In the south, it is necessary to sweep the New Year and offer sacrifices to stoves. Sweeping the year is sweeping the dust. In fact, it is to do a lot of home sanitation. Southerners take the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month as a year, which is called "blowing dust". Offering sacrifices to the stove refers to sending sacrifices to the kitchen god, so off-year is also called offering sacrifices to the stove festival. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, you should melt the candy with a torch and stick it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that you won't speak ill of the jade emperor, but also to make the kitchen god's mouth sweet and only say good things.

Off-year usually refers to the day of sweeping dust and offering sacrifices to stoves, and is regarded as the beginning of "busy year". Due to the different customs between the north and the south, the days called "off-year" are not the same. Traditionally, the year of the twelfth lunar month is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the tradition of celebrating the New Year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is still maintained. Before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Lunar New Year was also celebrated on the 24th in northern China. 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 worship the kitchen god, so people in the north also celebrate the 23rd day of the lunar calendar one day in advance.