Tomorrow is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the lunar new year in northern China, also known as the kitchen sacrifice Festival. Offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove is a traditional custom. It is said that this day is the day when the Kitchen God goes to heaven to report on his work. Therefore, every family should lay out tribute to the kitchen god on this day. I pray that the kitchen god can say a few good words in front of the jade emperor when he goes to heaven to report his work, so as to ensure that his family can live a prosperous life in the coming year. So it seems that offering sacrifices to cookers has a very important meaning. What are the highlights of offering sacrifices to cookers in Xiaonian? How should we sacrifice the stove? The small editor of this article will tell you about the methods and stress of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god in the new year.
Pay attention to folk sacrificial stoves
The time of offering sacrifices to the stove varies from place to place. The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is in the north and the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is in the south. The Han people also have the saying of "three officials, four people and five families", that is, the government holds sacrifices on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the common people on the 24th and the people on the water on the 25th.
Most of the kitchen god niches are located in the north or east of the kitchen, and the gods of the kitchen god are provided in the middle. People without a kitchen King's niche also pasted the statue directly on the wall. Some gods only draw the kitchen god, while others have two men and women. The goddess is called 'grandma kitchen King', which is probably an imitation of the image of a human couple.
Most of the statues of Kitchen God are also printed with the calendar of this year, with words such as "East kitchen commander", "human monitoring God" and "head of the family" to indicate the status of Kitchen God. The couplets of "Heaven's word is good, and the lower boundary is safe" are pasted on both sides to bless the peace of the whole family.
Most of the cooking utensils are held at night. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, the kitchen man knelt in front of the kitchen god and hugged the cock. Some people let children kneel behind adults with chickens in their arms. It is said that the chicken is the horse on which the kitchen god ascended to heaven. Therefore, the chicken is not called a chicken, but a horse. If it is a red rooster, it is commonly known as' red horse ', and a white rooster is commonly known as' white horse'.
After burning the incense watch, the male host poured wine and kowtowed, chanting words in his mouth. After reading, the stove worshiper shouted 'collar'! Then he poured wine on the chicken head. If the chicken head flutters loudly, it means that the kitchen god has appreciated it. If the chicken head doesn't move, it needs to be watered again. After the cooking ceremony, people began to eat cooking candy, fire and other cooking food. In some places, they also ate sugar cakes, oil cakes and tofu soup.
Ritual process of offering sacrifices to kitchen god
1. First, prepare sacrificial fruits, wine and vegetables, and light incense and candles when serving. Specifically, it includes new year candy cakes: symbolizing the sweetness of life (supermarkets sell a large bag with all kinds of things in it); New Year cake: a symbol of high every year; Water chestnut: also called horseshoe, it symbolizes money; Sugarcane: a symbol of rising days. (it should have a head and a tail. The Kitchen God uses the tail of sugarcane as a whip); Spinach: it should have roots. Red roots symbolize the prosperity of the day; Garlic seedling: it symbolizes that you are very good at living (careful)
The above six are necessary. In addition, there are: Wine: those who sacrifice stoves on the 23rd lunar calendar should have wine, and those who sacrifice stoves on the 24th lunar calendar should not have wine (rice wine or old wine); Tofu: the best one with red 'Fu' printed on it; Others: candy, oranges, etc. Generally ten samples, or not less than ten samples. 10、 Represents perfection; Burn paper money for the kitchen god, usually gold ingots.
2. Time: offering sacrifices to the stove before 6:00 p.m. on the 23rd and 24th of the lunar calendar.
3. On the 23rd day of the lunar calendar, the kitchen god is afraid to be full of wine when reporting.
4. On the 23rd day of the lunar calendar, fishy food can be the main supply, and on the 24th day of the lunar calendar, vegetarian food can be the main supply.
5. If you can't buy some things, you can add others by yourself.
6. You can talk to the kitchen god when offering, and ask the kitchen god to go up and say more good words for your family, etc.
7. If it is a rented house, there is no need to provide kitchen god, because there is no kitchen god in the rented house. If you want to provide it, let the people in your hometown provide it.
8. In particular, if you are a stove worshiper on the 23rd day of the lunar calendar, don't tear down the old stove statue. Wait until the 24th or around the Spring Festival to tear it down and replace it with a new one, because the stove God won't leave your house until about 6:00 p.m. on the 24th, ride to heaven and report to heaven. If you tear down the image of the old kitchen god at 23, the kitchen god will have no place to stay. The offering can take down the old stove statue and paste a new one. Old stove statues can be burned or disposed of as garbage.
Precautions for offering sacrifices to cookers in the new year
1. When delivering the stove, people put candy, water, cooking beans and hay on the table in front of the stove king;
2. Clear water, cooking beans and hay are used to prepare materials for the mount of Zao Wang's ascension to heaven;
3. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, you should melt Guandong sugar with fire and apply it on the mouth of the kitchen god. In this way, he could not speak ill of the Jade Emperor;
4. Han people have the custom that "men do not worship the moon and women do not sacrifice to the kitchen stove", so sacrificing to the kitchen god is limited to men.