What is the custom of offering sacrifices to stoves?

Kitchen God Festival is a traditional festival of the Chinese nation, also known as off-year, Xie Festival and Kitchen God Festival. It is said that every year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, kitchen gods, traditional gods and folk gods will return to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. In particular, the Kitchen God will tell the Jade Emperor the good and evil of the world as the basis for rewarding and punishing mankind, so most people will worship the gods at home and the Kitchen God at this time. The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves began in the Zhou Dynasty. The time of offering sacrifices to the stove is different. In the Han Dynasty, the sacrificial stove was in summer, from Han to Song, it was the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is a folk festival for offering sacrifices to stoves in China. Festive customs include cleaning, taking a bath and getting a haircut, eating jiaozi, eating stove candy and pasting couplets.

"Ming Shi": "Kitchen. Make it, create food. " Kitchen God's duty is to take charge of the kitchen fire and manage the diet. Later, it was expanded to investigate human good and evil to reduce good and evil. Sacrificing to the Kitchen God has a history of thousands of years in China, and the belief in the Kitchen God is a reflection of China people's dream of "adequate food and clothing". Traditionally, the day of offering sacrifices to stoves is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the ancient tradition of celebrating the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is still maintained.

In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. People call this god "the Bodhisattva who commands life" or "the stove commands life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef Commanding the Kitchen Palace" sealed by the Jade Emperor, who is responsible for managing the kitchen fires of various families and is worshipped as the patron saint 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.

Ceremonies for offering sacrifices to stoves are mostly held at night. When offering sacrifices to the stove, the people who offer sacrifices to the stove kneel in front of the statue of the stove and hug the rooster. Some people even let children hold chickens and kneel behind adults. It is said that the chicken is the horse on which jujube ascended to heaven, so the chicken is called a horse instead of a chicken. Such as red rooster, commonly known as "red horse" and white cock, commonly known as "white horse". After ordering the incense table, the cigarettes in the room were filled with mysterious colors. The host poured wine and kowtowed, muttering something. After reading it, the burning lamp shouted "collar"! Then pour the wine for the chicken head. If a chicken's head flutters, it means that Grandpa Jujube has been ungrateful. If the head of the chicken doesn't move, it needs to be watered again.

After the ceremony, people began to eat food, such as stove, candy and fire. In some places, they also eat sugar cakes, oil cakes and tofu soup.

Followed by offering stoves, offering stoves candy, offering stoves soup, filling positions, preparing for the New Year, offering stoves diet, offering stoves ballads and offering stoves couplets. At the same time, according to different eating habits and customs and cultures, the customs of offering sacrifices to stoves vary from place to place.