Customs and habits in various parts of China.

In China, the Spring Festival usually begins with offering sacrifices to stoves. The folk song "Twenty-three, Melon Stick" refers to the sacrificial stove on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month every year. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five", that is, in the twelfth lunar month, officials hold sacrificial stoves, 24 people hold them, and 25 curtilage boats hold them.

Sacrificing a stove is a kind of custom with great influence and wide spread among the people in our country. In the past, almost every kitchen had a "Kitchen God" shrine. People call this deity "Siming Bodhisattva" or "Chef Siming". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Wang Siming" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the stoves of various families and is worshipped as the head of the family. Kitchen shrines are mostly located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle. Some people who don't have the niche of the Kitchen King even put the idol directly on the wall. Some gods only draw a kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called "Grandma Chef". This is probably an imitation of the image of human lovers. Most of the statues of Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, which reads the words "Oriental chefs are in charge of life", "God of human supervision" and "head of the family" to show the status of Kitchen God. On both sides, there are couplets of "Heaven says yes, the lower bound is safe", wishing the whole family peace.

Kitchen God has been staying at home to protect and supervise his family since last year's Eve. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor in heaven. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen stove" or "resigning the kitchen stove". According to the report of Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor entrusted his family with the fate of good fortune and bad fortune in the new year. So for a family, Kitchen God's report is really interesting.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk. The family went to the kitchen first, set the table, incense the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall, and present honeydew melons made of caramel and flour. Then tie the bamboo poles into paper horses and make them into animal feed. Sacrificing caramel to Kitchen God is to make his old man's mouth sweet. Some places still wrap sugar on the mouth of the kitchen god, saying, "Say more good things and don't say bad things." This is to block the kitchen god's mouth with sugar and tell him not to speak ill. In the Chronicle of the Old Times in the Tang Dynasty, there was an occasional record that "Siming (Kitchen God) got drunk by applying distiller's grains on the stove". People put sugar on the mouth of the Kitchen God, took off their idols and went to heaven with paper and cigarettes. In some places, sesame stalks and pine branches are piled in the yard at night, and then the statue of the kitchen god, which has been enshrined for a year, is taken out of the shrine and burned on the fire with paper horses and forage. The courtyard was brightly lit, and at this time, the family kowtowed around the fire, burning and praying: It's twenty-third this year, and I'm going to send the kitchen ruler to the Western Heaven. With strong horses and forage, you will arrive safely. Melon is sweet and sweet. Please speak kindly to the Jade Emperor.

When sending the Kitchen God, there are some beggars in some places who dress up, sing and dance to send the Kitchen God door to door, and name it "Send the Kitchen God" in exchange for food.

The custom of sending stoves is common all over China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "A boxer sends a stove as a fact": only chicken glue smells good, and clothes smell good. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelopes.

He said in the article "The Day of Sending Kitchen Stove": "On the day when the chef went to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, the size of a citrus, and we also had it there, but it was flat and flat, like a thick pancake. That is the so-called' gum teeth'. " The original intention is to ask the chef to eat it and stick his teeth on it, so that he won't speak ill of the jade emperor. The allusion to "antelope" in Lu Xun's poems comes from the Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty: "When Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, Yin Zifang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning of the twelfth day, seeing the kitchen god, the children have to worship and celebrate; There is an antelope at home, so it is worshipped. After the third one, he naturally became extremely rich. "I have known the third generation, and I have made a fortune. Therefore, I often recommend the antelope in the twelfth lunar month to worship the stove. " Yin Zifang met the Kitchen God and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she got lucky. Since then, the custom of killing antelopes to sacrifice stoves has been handed down.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk activities of offering sacrifices to stoves at that time: it is said in ancient times that in the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song bait are round. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell your servant's struggle, and your cat and dog don't feel angry when they touch you. Send you to Tianmen to get drunk, and don't repeat the clouds with long spoons and short spoons, begging for points from the market.

The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to earth with other gods with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods will go to heaven after the New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." The origin of Kitchen God has a long history. Among the folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God has a long history. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book The Book of Rites, Kong Ying Da said: "Hitachi, the son of Zhuan Xu, is Zhu Rong and worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Sheng Da" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Hold PiaoZi. "Wei Zhi" also recorded: "On a dark night, Kitchen God also accused the white man of being guilty." These records are probably the source of Kitchen God. Also, or the Kitchen God is a "Suiren" who digs firewood to make a fire; Or Shennong's "fire official"; Or "Su Liji" in "The Yellow Emperor Cooking Ren"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the name list, the word Guo; Opinions vary. There is an 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. Daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly, pulling a long face all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of Wang's death, late at 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 immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him' Nine Days East Chef ordered the chef to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy and lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. " Big brother was angry to know that you were going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on New Year's Eve 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 the kitchen of every household was labeled as the kitchen god. Over time, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god spread, from the Zhou Dynasty, the palace also included it in the sacrificial ceremony, and formulated the rules of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god nationwide, which became a fixed ceremony.