The contents of offering sacrifices to the stove

The Kitchen God has been staying at home since the last New Year’s Eve to protect and supervise the family; on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven to report the family’s good deeds to the Jade Emperor in heaven. Or evil deeds, the ritual of sending off the Kitchen God is called "Sending the Stove" or "Citing the Stove". Based on the report of the Kitchen God, the Jade Emperor handed over the good and bad fortunes that the family should receive in the new year to the hands of the Kitchen God. Therefore, for the family, the Stove Lord's report is indeed of great interest.

According to ancient legend, on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen King looked up to the sky and wanted to say something. Clouds, carriages, wind, and horses linger around for a while, and there are cups and plates at home to celebrate the occasion. The pig's head is overcooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and nard powder are round. The man offers his daughter a drink to escape, and the king is happy to drink wine and burn money. Don't listen to the fight between your maidservants. Don't be angry when cats and dogs touch filth. I send you drunk and full to the gate of heaven. Don't return to the clouds with a long spoon and a short spoon, begging for profit and return points.

Invite the Stove Lord to eat and drink, bribe the Stove God, let him get drunk and go to heaven, do not talk about the shortcomings of the world, and it is best to bring some money to share when you come back. Sacrifice to the Stove is not only to avoid disasters, but more importantly To pray for blessings.

The time for worshiping the stove varies from place to place. In the north, it is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, and in the south, it is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. There is also a saying among the Han people that "officials are on the third day, people are on the fourth day, and families are on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month." That is to say, the official government holds sacrifices on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the common people hold sacrifices on the 24th, and the people on the water hold sacrifices on the 25th.

Most of the Kitchen King's niches are located on the north or east side of the kitchen room, with the statue of the Kitchen King in the middle. Some people who don't have a niche for the Kitchen King stick the statue of the god directly on the wall. Some statues depict only the Kitchen God, while others include two men and women. The goddess is called the Kitchen God’s grandmother. This is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple. Most of the statues of the Kitchen God also have a calendar for that year printed on them, with inscriptions such as the Master of the East Chef, the God of Human Supervision, and the Head of the Family, etc., to indicate the status of the Kitchen God. Couplets are posted on both sides to protect the safety of the whole family, including the whole family.

The stove sacrificial ceremony is mostly carried out in the evening. When offering sacrifices to the Stove God, the person offering sacrifices to the Stove God kneels in front of the statue of Stove God and holds the rooster in his arms. Some people also let children hold a chicken and kneel behind adults. It is said that the chicken is the horse on which Lord Zao ascended to heaven, so the chicken is not called a chicken, but a horse. If it is a red rooster, it is commonly known as "red horse", and if it is a white rooster, it is commonly known as "white horse". After burning the incense table, the house is filled with smoke and mystery. The male host poured wine, kowtowed, and muttered something. After finishing the recitation, the person offering sacrifices to the stove shouted "Lead"! Then the chicken head is poured with Tianzhi wine. If the chicken head flutters and makes a sound, it means that the Kitchen God has appreciated it. If the chicken head doesn't move at all, you need to water it again.

After the stove-offering ceremony, people began to eat stove-offering foods such as stove candies and fire-roasted stoves. In some places, they also ate sugar cakes, oil cakes and drank tofu soup.

Sending stoves is usually held at dusk and into night. The family goes to the kitchen first, sets the table, offers incense and offers sacrifices to the Kitchen God in the shrine on the kitchen wall. There are red balls, white balls, sesame balls, oil fruits, inch gold sugar, foot bone sugar, white jiaojie, black jiaojie, etc., which may be in 8 or 12 colors. They are all sweet and sticky when eaten. After the sacrifice, the statue of "Zao Lord, the chef of the Nine Heavens East" that has been posted for a year is burned together with the paper-wrapped horse, praying that he will perform more good deeds in front of the Jade Emperor and bless the family's safety. worry". The stove-offering fruit is divided and eaten by family members, mainly children. "After eating the stove-offering fruit, the bones of the feet will be strong." On New Year’s Eve, it’s time to take the Kitchen God home again and put the newly purchased statue of the Kitchen God on the stove. Since the Kitchen Lord must first count the names of the people in his lower realm, family members have to go home to celebrate the New Year to pray for the Kitchen Lord to bring good luck to the whole family.

When sending off the Kitchen God, in some places there are still several beggars who dress up in disguise and go from house to house singing songs and dancing to the Kitchen God, called "Sending the Kitchen God", in exchange for food. Xiaonian is a day for Han people to worship the stove. It is said that on this day, the Kitchen God will go to heaven to report the good and evil deeds of the family to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish them. When offering sacrifices to the Stove, Guandong sugar (sugar melon) must be melted with fire and smeared on the Stove Lord's mouth so that he cannot speak ill of the Jade Emperor. It is a custom that "men do not worship the moon, and women do not worship the stove". Therefore, worshiping the stove prince is limited to men.

Since Chinese people basically eat rice, cooked food is generally not easy to preserve and must be cooked at any time. Unlike Western bread, many can be baked at once and preserved for consumption. Therefore, for the Chinese, "firewood" (fuel) is the first important thing among the "seven things" in life (firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea). Without fuel, even if there is basic food, there is no way to eat it. In the West, one bread oven is usually enough for a village, but in China every household must have a stove.

Since every house has a stove, a legend has arisen that the Jade Emperor stationed a supervisor in each house - the Kitchen God (Si Ming Zao Lord, Kitchen Lord, Kitchen Lord, Kitchen King) to Supervise and inspect what the family has done throughout the year. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will go to heaven and report to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor will decide based on the report whether to reward or punish the family in the next year. The Kitchen God will return in the next New Year. Continue to monitor what this company does. The Kitchen Worship Festival is actually a festival for families to send off the Kitchen God to heaven.

Specific operation method: Since every house usually has a portrait of the Kitchen God near the stove, sometimes accompanied by a portrait of the Kitchen God's grandmother, after a year of smoke and fire, the portrait is old and dark. The old statue should be taken off, and straw should be used to tie a straw horse for the Kitchen God. In order to make him "go to heaven to say good things and return to the palace to bring good luck", he should also be bribed and stick a piece of sticky sugar melon or cake on his mouth. So that his "sweet mouth" can only say good things, and then be burned together with the straw horse. This process is called Ci Zao. After the New Year, buy a new portrait and invite the Kitchen God back on it. In the intervening days, without the supervision of the Kitchen God, most people indulge in overeating, gambling, and indulgence in making small mistakes that they usually think they should not make.

The Stove Festival is actually a reflection of the secular social order in ancient China. It expresses the fear of ordinary people towards the emperor and his grassroots officials, as well as the culture of bribing grassroots officials. The so-called "hiding it from the top but not from the bottom", As long as he bribes the officials closest to him, the emperor will not know what he is doing, and he can escape punishment even if he breaks the law. Making sugar melons and offering sacrifices to stoves are the main activities on this day. From then on, people enter the stage of preparing for the New Year and people begin to relax mentally. The whole family, old and young, enjoys stove-offering candies, cakes and eggs for dinner together. For dinner, eat more vegetarian food such as noodles instead of meat, and pay attention to eating as much as possible, which is called "filling the warehouse".

New Year's Eve

Before the founding of China, the period after the Kitchen Festival was also a sad time for poor families, which was called "New Year's Eve". Landlords often sent people to poor families to collect debts and accounts. Those who have difficulty repaying their debts have no choice but to hide out, "hide the New Year's Eve", and go home after posting a couplet on the New Year's Eve. There is a common rule that outsiders are not allowed to enter the house after the "New Year's Eve", which is called "Sacrifice the stove to save your life." "Spring Festival couplets." After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household must post Spring Festival couplets. Han folk believe that every god, every door, and every object must be posted, so the Spring Festival couplets have the largest number and the most comprehensive content. The couplets in front of the gods are particularly particular, and they are mostly words of admiration and blessing. Common ones include the divine couplet of heaven and earth: "Heaven's grace is as deep as the sea, and the earth's virtues are as heavy as mountains"; the divine couplet of land: "white jade grows from the soil, and gold comes from the earth"; the divine couplet of wealth: "the master of wealth in heaven, the god of fortune and fortune on earth"; the god of wells Couple: "A well can connect to the four seas, and a home can reach three rivers." The Spring Festival couplets on granaries, livestock pens, etc. all express warm celebrations and hopes. For example, "The grains are plentiful and the livestock are prosperous"; "The rice and flour are as thick as mountains, and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "The cattle are like southern mountain tigers, and the horses are like northern sea dragons"; "The big sheep are prosperous every year, and the lambs are growing every month" and so on. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as "Look up to see happiness" posted in every room, "Go out to see happiness" posted on the opposite side of the door, "Prosperous Qi soaring to the sky" posted on the prosperous fire, "Full of gold in the courtyard" posted in the courtyard, and "Meeting happiness in the whole courtyard" posted on the tree. "The roots are deep and the leaves are luxuriant", the stone mill is pasted with "White Tiger and Good Luck" and so on. The couplets on the door are the facade of a family, and they are particularly important. They are either lyrical or scene-describing, rich in content, and full of witticisms.

After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, adults and children must take baths and get haircuts. There is a saying among the Han people that "if you have money but don't have money, you can shave your head to celebrate the New Year". People in Luliang area pay special attention to foot washing on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. That evening, Aunt Ruzi washed her feet with boiling water. For a girl who is not sensible, adults should help her clean her feet so that no trace of dirt is left behind. There is a folk saying among the Han people: "On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, all your mother-in-laws and aunties wash their feet. If anyone does not wash their feet, pus will cause water damage for seven months."

1. The first couplet: God says good things; the second couplet: The lower realm keeps peace. Hengbiao: The head of the family

Second, the first couplet: God says good things; the second couplet: Returning to the palace brings good luck. Horizontal comment: Peace in all seasons.