How do people in Chengde, Hebei spend their off-year? What are the customs?

Chengde, Hebei Province is one of the birthplaces of Hongshan Culture with a long history. It is also a world cultural heritage and the location of the famous Qing Palace "chengde mountain resort". It is an important historical and cultural city in China. In the long years, Chengde people have worked hard to protect the folk culture handed down from generation to generation, so let Lao Huangli tell you how Chengde people in Hebei spend their off-year and what customs they have.

In the folk culture of Chengde people, every day after the twelfth lunar month seems to be related to the year. Chengde people probably know this folk proverb: "Twenty-three honeydew sticks, twenty-four days to clean the house, twenty-five days to make tofu, twenty-six days to cook the meat, twenty-seven days to kill the rooster, twenty-eight days to stick noodles to your hair, twenty-nine friends to stick to the stove, thirty nights to stay, and the first day to leave the next day." Then let's talk about these 23 "cantaloupe sticks".

The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as off-year. In the old days, Chengde people had the custom of "coming to the New Year when people are king". The kitchen refers to the kitchen god, who is an imaginary god. His duty is to supervise people to eat and drink. Legend has it that on this day, Kitchen God will report to the Jade Emperor with all the family gods, so everyone will make sacrifices to Kitchen God.

In the past, most people in Chengde worshipped the kitchen god behind pots and pans. First of all, a plate of maltose, also called honeydew melon, should be served on Lunar New Year's eve, which is sweet and sticky. The purpose is to stick the mouth of Kitchen God so that he won't talk nonsense in heaven. There is also a bowl of grass and a bowl of material for the kitchen god to feed the horse; I have to burn the size of the kitchen god portrait that has been hung for a year and change it into a new one; On both sides of the portrait of Kitchen God, there is generally a pair of couplets of "Heaven speaks well and descent is auspicious" and a horizontal comment of "the head of the family".

Because we cook every day 365 days a year, who can avoid the mistake of throwing rice and noodles? So the master will kneel down and pray: "Master Chef, you are going to heaven. If you are offended by the kitchen a year ago, you must say more good things and say less bad things, and pray for the Jade Emperor to bless my family ... "After the prayer, firecrackers exploded, even if the Kitchen God was sent away.

After the sacrifice, the honeydew melons should be distributed to the children. Chengde also circulated a Song Ci:

Master Chef Wang went to the Western Heaven, saying more good things and saying less.

After this year, we must be safe next year.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, sticky cakes and honeydew melons stick together.

The board feed is complete and the forage is complete. Go early and come back early in the New Year.

In addition to offering sacrifices to the kitchen god, in order to show respect for the kitchen god, people also stipulated some taboos: no burning incense with the kitchen stove; Don't hit the stove; Don't put the knife and axe on the stove; Don't complain, complain or cry in front of the stove; Don't urinate or spit in front of the stove; Don't put dirty things in the stove to burn.

Fengning Manchu people regard the 23rd day of the lunar calendar as an exercise for the New Year, and their main activity on this day is to worship the kitchen god. In Fengning Manchu, the statue of Kitchen God is generally placed on the north wall opposite to the entrance of the outhouse kitchen. On the day of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, a statue of heaven and earth or a small Buddhist shrine is usually placed on the outer wall of the East House for worship.

In the past, children liked to celebrate the New Year, because after the sacrifice, these sacrifices could be eaten. For example, during the sacrifice, the shaman pulled it down and chopped it up a little, picked it up with chopsticks, lifted it up and threw it into the iron bucket, symbolically gave it to the gods, and most of it was eaten by people, so on the one hand, the sacrifice also had ingredients for people to satisfy their own desires.

However, the Manchu people in Fengning are different from the Han people in that the Kitchen God was sent away on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and a similar ceremony will be held on the 30th to invite him back.