When is New Year's Eve?
Off-year is a day for people to sacrifice their stoves. It is said that on this day, the Kitchen God will report the good and evil of this family to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish him. When offering sacrifices to the stove, you should melt the Guandong sugar with fire and put it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that the kitchen god will not speak ill of the jade emperor. ? Men don't want Yue Bai, and women don't want to sacrifice stoves? Therefore, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god is limited to men.
Because people in China basically eat rice, cooked food is usually difficult to preserve and must be cooked at any time. Unlike western bread, you can bake a lot at a time and then keep it for consumption. What about China people? Chai? Is there fuel in life? Seven things? The first important thing is that without fuel, even if there is basic food, there is no way to eat it. In the west, it is usually enough for a village to have only one bread stove. In China, every family must have a stove.
Because every family has a stove, there is a legend that the Jade Emperor stationed a supervisor in every family-Kitchen God (he ordered Kitchen God, Kitchen God, Kitchen God and Kitchen God) to supervise and inspect the family's work for one year. On December 23rd of the lunar calendar, Kitchen God will report to the Jade Emperor, who will decide whether to reward or punish the family next year according to the report. Kitchen God is the next year. The Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen Stove is actually a festival for every household to send the kitchen god to heaven.
Small origin:
New Year's Eve dates are different in different parts of China. In history, there were four more important days years ago. Winter solstice, worship the kitchen god (1February 24th), Lunar New Year's Eve (the day before New Year's Eve) and Lunar New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve). In Song Dynasty, in order to save time, Lunar New Year's Eve and Kitchen God were merged into Lunar New Year's Eve, which was placed on1February 24th. In the Qing Dynasty, it changed again, because December 23rd of the lunar calendar is the day when Manchu people worship their ancestors, so the Qing royal family stipulated that December 23rd of the lunar calendar was a small year, and it was gradually popularized. Therefore, the Lunar New Year's Eve in the north became the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and most areas in the south became the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai kept their original days.
The Qing emperor began to worship the gods in Kunning Palace on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. In order to save money, the emperor also worshipped the kitchen god. Later, the royal family and Baylor followed suit, offering sacrifices to stoves on December 23rd of the lunar calendar. Since then, there has been a difference between officials and people who spend their off-year lives on different days.
Is there an off-year among the people? Three officers, four boats and five? Tradition, that is to say, the official off-year is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the ordinary off-year is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and the government boat is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.
Before the Southern Song Dynasty, the north was the political center, which was greatly influenced by bureaucracy, so the off-year was mostly the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. On the contrary, the south is far from the political center, and the off-year is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Residents along the lake and the seaside have retained the tradition of boating, and the off-year is set on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month.
Nanjing urban area is a special area, which is because Judy practiced tyranny after usurping the throne in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, people held the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month of Yongle, and they all missed the tolerance of the Zhu Yunwen era. Therefore, in Nanjing, Yuanxiao became a small year. Yunnan-Guizhou-Sichuan area in the southwest and some northern Hui areas regard the first day of the first month as New Year's Eve, and New Year's Eve becomes New Year's Eve. To sum up:
Northern region:1February 23rd.
Southern China:1February 24th.
Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai:1February 24th? And then what? The night before New Year's Eve? They are all called New Year's Eve.
Taiwan Province Province: The day before New Year's Eve.
Nanjing: The fifteenth day of the first month is the Lantern Festival.
Some ethnic minority areas in Southwest China and North China: New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve), and some areas in Yunnan: January 16th.
In some areas, there is a custom of sending kitchen gods on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, which has also become a small year in this area.