Folk anecdote: Why is there a difference between the north and the south in the New Year?

It is an important annual festival in China, but the specific dates of off-year are different in different regions. In the north, off-year usually falls on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, but in some places in the south, off-year falls on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. So why is there a small year difference between the north and the south? Let traditional festivals examine allusions for you.

Folklore experts said that before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, off-year sacrifices were mostly held on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and the off-year celebrations on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month were greatly influenced by official sacrifices in the Qing Dynasty. According to folklore research, off-year originated from ancient people's worship of fire. "Sacrifice furnace" is an important content in the "Five Sacrifices" of Yin Shang Dynasty and "Seven Sacrifices" of Western Zhou Dynasty.

After Wei and Jin Dynasties, the kitchen god, as the object of "offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove", was gradually accepted by people, and the off-year basically became a festival. Before the Qing Dynasty, off-year sacrificial stoves were all on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. For example, in the Dream of Beads written in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, it is recorded that "on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, people who are neither poor nor rich are prepared to eat beans and worship the stove".

Folklore experts told reporters that after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the royal family generally chose to sacrifice stoves on the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month, and the draft of the Qing Dynasty recorded that "it is normal to sacrifice stoves in the palace only on the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month." By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, during Jiaqing and Daoguang years, the time of offering sacrifices to stoves in the northern folk off-year was gradually changed to the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month under the influence of the government, while the old calendar was used in most parts of the south.

Folklorists say that although there are differences in different places in the off-year period, the interactive integration of local customs is the general trend. Nowadays, in the off-year holidays, whether in the south or the north, there are fewer and fewer rituals of offering sacrifices to stoves, which are replaced by relatively simple customs such as eating sugar and cleaning houses. If conditions permit, most people will prepare a table of "New Year's Eve" and the whole family will really enter the "Spring Festival rhythm".

Learn more about horoscope encyclopedia, horoscope marriage, horoscope career, marriage fortune, horoscope of the god of wealth, emotional combination, seeing the other half, horoscope calculation, name speed matching, life fortune, compound opportunities. You can click on the bottom for online consultation (for entertainment only): /xz/