What is the origin of the 23 rd lunar new year? thank you

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is an important folk festival before the Spring Festival, which is called "Festival of Sacrificing Kitchen Stove". At this time, people can't help but welcome the joy of the New Year, stop all kinds of work in their hands, and are busy with the sacrificial activities of offering sacrifices to the gods years ago.

The custom of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in Henan is accompanied by a bleak folklore. In ancient times, an old couple had only one son. They regard their son as the apple of their eye and love him very much. But because his family was poor and unable to make a living, he had to bear the pain and let his son dig coal in the coal mine.

The old man has missed his son for a long time. On this day, the old woman told the old man to visit the coal mine. On the way, the old man met a barefoot fellow traveler, and the two became more and more familiar and got along well. During the chat, the old man learned that barefoot film was instructed by Yan Wang to come to the mine to recover 100 miners. The old man was in a hurry and begged his son to stay barefoot. Barefoot generously agreed and told him not to tell anyone.

Seeing his son, the old man pretended to be ill, and his son was waiting around and unable to go down the well. Soon, something happened in the coal mine, and the old man hurried home with his son.

Three years passed in a blink of an eye. On the night of the twelfth lunar month, the old man remembered the risks of that year and couldn't help telling his wife. Who knows, this statement was heard by Chef Jun. On the evening of 23rd, Chef Jun went to heaven and told the Jade Emperor about it. The Jade Emperor became angry from embarrassment, and immediately punished the barefoot piece and took away the old man's son.

Because of this, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people respect Zhao Jun for eating sweets, hoping that he will stop gossiping when he arrives in the Heavenly Palace. As time goes by, people sacrifice stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first round of firecrackers was set off in urban and rural areas of the Central Plains. City residents are busy buying sesame candy, fire and other food for offering sacrifices to stoves. In the vast rural areas, preparations and grand ceremonies for offering sacrifices to stoves gradually began in the deafening sound of guns.

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"! And then pour the chicken head with wine. 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.

In Henan, the typical food for offering sacrifices to stoves should be the first stove candy. Kitchen candy is a kind of maltose that sticks to the mouth and teeth. The reason for offering sugar to the stove is to stick the mouth of the stove owner. Legend has it that Lord Zao is a god sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise good and evil. He has the responsibility to communicate with people, contact the feelings between heaven and earth, and convey the information between fairyland and human beings. When it went to heaven, people gave it stove candy, hoping that it would eat sweets and say good things in front of the Jade Emperor. It is also said that the candy used for offering sacrifices to the stove is not stuck on the mouth of the stove owner, but on the mouth of the grandmother who is greedy and loves to gossip.

In addition to eating stove candy, fire is also a very distinctive seasonal food on the day of sacrifice. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the business of biscuit stalls in the city is booming. People gathered together and rushed to buy sacrificial stoves and burn them. Most of the countryside is made by ourselves, made of flour and kang. The home is very lively, with the taste of off-year life.

In Henan, people regard the festival of offering sacrifices to stoves as a reunion festival after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Anyone who works, does business or goes to school in other places should try to get home before the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. If you can eat the sacrificial stove cooked at home, you will be protected by the kitchen god and your family will be safe in the coming year.

Off-year sacrifice:

In China, the Spring Festival usually begins with a ceremony of offering sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month. There is a saying that "officials, three people, four boatmen and five people", that is, the government held a ceremony to sacrifice stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, ordinary people on the 24th and houseboats on the 25th. After holding the sacrificial stove, they officially began to prepare for the New Year. Every year from the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, people call it "Spring Festival". The activity of offering sacrifices to stoves is very popular in China. In the past, almost every family had a kitchen god. Kitchen God is also called "Bodhisattva who directs life" or "Kitchen God directs life". It is said that he was awarded by the Jade Emperor as the "Nine-day East Chef in Charge of the Kitchen Palace", responsible for managing the stoves of various families, and was worshipped as the head of the family. Most of the shrines of Kitchen God are located in the north or east of the kitchen, with the idol of Kitchen God in the middle, and some people directly stick the idol on the wall. Statues can be divided into single seats and double seats. If the admirer has no spouse, only for a single statue. Most of the kitchen gods are also printed with this year's calendar, which reads the words "Master of the East Chef", "God of Human Surveillance" and "Head of the Family", and there are couplets on both sides of them that say "Heaven says good, and the lower bound keeps peace" to keep the family safe. Kitchen God has been staying at home since last year's Eve. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven to report the good deeds or evil deeds of this family to the Jade Emperor. The ceremony of sending the kitchen god is called "sending the kitchen stove" or "resigning the kitchen stove". The delivery of stoves is mostly carried out at dusk. In the old days, there was a custom that "men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice stoves". Women are forbidden to participate in offering sacrifices to the stove. Later, the requirements were less strict. The male host of a family presided over the sacrifice. First, he went to the kitchen to give incense and offerings to the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall. At this time, women should paint the stove with clean mud, which is called "hanging robes". The offerings include a bowl of kwantung sugar, honeydew melon, south sugar and cold water, and a dish of forage, which is for the horse of Kitchen God. There is also lamb oil red wax specially made for the sacrificial furnace. After offering incense, people kowtow three times in the order of generations, and at the same time, they say prayers in their mouths, which are nothing more than "God speaks well", "Speak more well and speak less ill" and so on. Then wipe the mouth of the stove with syrup, or throw a piece of sugar into the stove with the intention of sticking to the mouth of the stove king. Calling it "sticking to the stove" means talking less, even if you talk, it is sweet talk. There is also distiller's grains to wipe the kitchen door, called "drunk commander" to make the chef drunk, which also means to talk less. After the fragrance is exhausted, take out the fragrant roots, burn them together with the uncovered paper images and forage, and pour cold water on the ground to complete the gift. Kitchen God sent it away tonight, just waiting for it on New Year's Eve. From the form of etiquette, there are also "wide sacrifice stoves" and "poor sacrifice stoves". For ostentation and extravagance, the maharaja brothers and ancestral home gave a lot of offerings, and also made paper paste for the kitchen god, and horses and chariots ascended to heaven. And small families only put a bowl of cold water on the stove, burn three incense sticks, and burn the kitchen god's yard after three "vegetarian heads", which is also a gift. There are many related contents about the sacrificial furnace. The date of offering sacrifices to stoves has been passed down for twenty-three or twenty-four days. Before the Ming Dynasty, it was mostly on the 24th, and gradually changed to the 23rd. Some places are also divided into two days. On the evening of 23rd, a "meat-offering stove" was held, with chicken, duck, fish and delicious food as offerings, and on 24th, a "vegetarian-offering stove" was held, with fruits, melon seeds and snacks as offerings, but honeydew melons are essential for both meat and vegetarian offerings.

According to the custom in Beijing, firms have the rule of "three-stage settlement". From the beginning of offering sacrifices to stoves, various firms have sent people to collect accounts everywhere. Those who can't pay their debts will "hide their debts" everywhere until New Year's Eve. Therefore, there is a saying in Beijing called "deadly Kwantung Sugar, life-saving Bao jiaozi".

Due to different local customs, there are also activities of "jumping the kitchen king" and "beating the kitchen king" among the people. "Jumping the Kitchen King" is a folk activity form developed from ancient exorcism, mainly aimed at beggars. The day of "Jumping the Kitchen King" is from the first day to the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. After entering the twelfth lunar month, beggars come in groups of three or five, and women dressed as cooks make trouble at the door with bamboo sticks and beg for money. They are called "King of Jumping Chefs" and also contain the meaning of exorcism. This activity is mainly carried out in the southeast of our country.

Festival of offering sacrifices to stoves:

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 sacrifice furnace was one of the "five sacrifices" (the five sacrifices were the five gods of sacrifice 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 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 plum blossom of magpie, peach willow of swallow, peony of peacock, rolling hydrangea of lion, opening Thai of Sanyang (Yang), beating pearls of Erlong, Toona sinensis of Luhe (Liuhe Tongchun), longevity of five bats (Fu), moon-gazing of rhinoceros, Nianyu of Lianlian (the rest) and 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.