Who can talk about how to spend the Lunar New Year?

Our off-year custom here is to eat jiaozi (according to the custom in China, as long as it is a holiday, we will eat jiaozi. )

Our family is having a family reunion. We invited our grandparents and aunts to get together. A rare family reunion this year, we saved it for next year. Haha ~

The following is a copy of the online post "The Origin of Off-year". If it's not too much, take a closer look ~

On December 23rd (or 24th) of the lunar calendar, folks call it off-year, which is a festival to worship the kitchen god.

The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves has a long history. Kitchen God, in the Xia Dynasty, has become a respected god. In the Analects of Confucius, which describes Kong Qiu's words and deeds in the Spring and Autumn Period, there is a saying that "it is better to be charming than beautiful". In the pre-Qin period, the sacrificial furnace was one of the "five sacrifices" (the five sacrifices were to worship the five gods of furnace, door, line, household and thunder). Ray is the land god. The other is doors, wells, households, stoves and lightning; Or lines, wells, households, stoves, thunder). When offering sacrifices to the stove, you should establish a spirit and make a sacrifice with rich wine and food. It is necessary to display tripods, arrange water beans, welcome corpses and so on. With obvious traces of primitive fetishism.

Kitchen God himself has long been known as Yan Di and Zhu Rong. Later, many statements were derived. 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 both grandparents. In different regions, Zhao Jun and his wife are played by different candidates, accompanied by popular local folklore stories.

There are always different opinions about the dates when the ancients offered sacrifices to stoves, such as the first month, April, May, August and December. In the feudal society of China, various religions coexisted, and the number of gods reached thousands, which was respected by folk customs. Perhaps in order to simplify unity, facilitate memory and operation, the saying that Kitchen God goes to heaven once a month has evolved into going to heaven once a year. And set the time on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month. This day has become a traditional festival for offering sacrifices to stoves.

In Shanxi, most areas offer sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Only a few places, such as Yushe, Wenshui, Licheng and Yangcheng. Twenty-four sacrificial stoves in the twelfth lunar month.

Kitchen God is attached to the wall next to the cooker, facing the bellows. Most of the couplets on both sides are "Heaven speaks well, the lower bound is safe", and some of the couplets at the bottom are also written "Go back to the palace for good luck". In the middle is the idol of the husband and wife in the kitchen, and two horses are often painted next to the idol as mounts. When offering sacrifices to the stove, offerings should be displayed, the most prominent of which is honeydew melon. Used in the north of Shanxi, it is the primary product of sesame sugar, which is particularly sticky. Now collectively referred to as sesame sugar. There is a folk proverb "Twenty-three, eat a plate". Foods such as sugar and preserves are sweet and sticky. I ate carefully, but I couldn't speak. Yesterday, my mouth was blocked and I was not allowed to make trouble. A few eggs should also be put in the offering, which are snacks for foxes and weasels. It is said that they are all subordinates of Kitchen God, and we have to take care of them. When offering sacrifices to the stove, in addition to offering incense and wine, it is especially necessary to sprinkle horse material for the mount of the kitchen god, from the front of the stove to the outside of the stove. After these ceremonies, the Kitchen God will be taken down and burned. Wait until New Year's Eve to set up a new idol.

There is an old saying that "women don't sacrifice stoves". Sacrificing the stove is often a man's business. However, in modern times, most housewives play the role of offering sacrifices to the stove.

According to folklore, the chef once specifically accused human beings of evil. Once charged, the life span of a felony will be shortened by 300 days, and that of a misdemeanor will be shortened by 100 days. In "Induction of Thai Merchants", there is also a description that "the company's life is important and its discipline is taken away". Siming refers to the kitchen king, counting one hundred days, and Kyrgyzstan refers to twelve years. Here, the felony penalty is increased to 12 years of life loss. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the stove, we should do something about it and ask it to be generous.

In the north of Shanxi, there is a folk song "On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Grandpa Zhao Jun, you went to heaven, ate a candy tray in your mouth, and didn't speak in front of the Jade Emperor. When you come back to our home for the New Year, you will have food, noodles and clothes, which shows your pursuit and yearning for a better life.

On the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves, people pay attention to eating jiaozi, which means "look down on the windward side of jiaozi". Eat more cakes and buckwheat noodles in mountainous areas. In the southeast of Shanxi, the custom of eating fried corn is popular. A folk proverb says, "Twenty-three, don't eat fried, on New Year's Eve-pour it all at once." People like to bond fried corn with maltose and freeze it into pieces, which tastes crisp and sweet.

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. The folk song is "busy marriage in the countryside, Yichun posts tease spring scenery." Sisters talk privately in front of the lights. This year is the bridal chamber.

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 house, cleaning the dust under boxes, cabinets and kang mats, painting walls, scrubbing glass, decaling windows, pasting New Year pictures and so on.

There are two folk songs circulating in southeastern Shanxi. One is "Twenty-three, send my master to heaven; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, steamed dumplings; Twenty-six, cut meat; Twenty-seven, tin cleaner; Twenty-eight, sloppy; Twenty-nine, washing feet; On the 30th, the door gods and couplets were pasted together. It shows that time is tight and preparations are tense.

The second is a nursery rhyme: "Twenty-three, sacrifice the stove, the children clap their hands and laugh." In five or six days, the new year is coming. Bad box, playing with walnuts, losing two shots. When Wu Zixu ping-pong rang, the fire rose higher than the sky. "This reflects the joy of children looking forward to the New Year.

Among all the preparations, cutting window grilles and stick grilles are the most popular folk activities. There are all kinds of animal and plant stories, such as the plum blossom of magpie, the peach willow of swallow, the peony of peacock, the rolling hydrangea of lion, the opening of three sheep (Yang), the pearl beating of two dragons, the toon of deer crane (Liuhe Tongchun), the longevity of five bats (Fu), the full moon of rhinoceros, the years of lotus (Lian) and fish (the rest), and the swimming of Yuanyang. Folk customs include "Da Deng Dian, Du Ermei, Three Mothers teach four places, five women celebrate their birthdays, six are in the snow, the seventh day of July is Tianhe, and nine clothes celebrate the birthday of the Eight Immortals", which reflects the folk preference for opera stories. In a family with a new wife, the new wife should bring all kinds of window grilles cut by herself, go back to her husband's house and put up windows, and neighbors will come to see them.

After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should steam steamed bread. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is gorgeous. Especially to make a jujube hill for Kitchen God. "A steamed bread, neighbors to help". This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. Steamed bread is a handicraft.

After the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, every household will write Spring Festival couplets. People pay attention to it, and God will stick it, and doors will stick it, and things will stick it, 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: "the grace of heaven is as deep as the sea, and the virtue of the earth is as heavy as the mountain"; Land God Union: "White jade is born in the soil, and gold is born in the ground"; God of wealth alliance: "God of wealth in heaven, God of wealth on earth"; Jing Shenlian: "Well can lead to the four seas, and home can lead to the 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"; "The rice surface is as thick as a mountain, and the oil and salt are as deep as the sea"; "Nanshan cattle are like tigers, Beihai Ma Rulong"; "Big sheep flourish every year, and little sheep increase every month" and so on. There are also some single couplets, such as "Looking up to see happiness" in each room, "Going out to see happiness" across the door, "Prosperity is soaring to the sky" on the fire, "The courtyard is full of gold" on the tree, and "Deep-rooted foliage" on the stone mill. The couplets on the gate are the facade of a family, which are particularly exquisite, lyrical or picturesque, rich in content and witty.

After the 23 rd day of the twelfth lunar month, adults and children should take a bath and have their hair cut. There is a folk saying that "if you have money, you can cut your hair to celebrate the New Year". Luliang area pays attention to washing feet on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. Mother-in-law and your son washed their feet with boiling water tonight. Adults should also help a girl who is not sensible to scrub her feet clean, leaving no dirt. There is a folk saying that on the 27th of the twelfth lunar month, your mother-in-law washes your feet. As the saying goes, if you don't wash your feet, pus will harm water for seven months.