The small year of 2019 is coming, which is also known as the festival of sacrificing kitchen stove. The small year is one of the traditional festivals in China. Is there any specific holiday arrangement for Xiaonian on this day? The Chinese calendar 2018 Xiaonian is January 28, 2019, and the lunar calendar 2013, Monday. The small year is not a statutory holiday in China, so it is not allowed to have a holiday in 2018.
Xiaonian is also known as the festival of sacrifice to the kitchen stove, the festival of thanks, the festival of kitchen king, etc. it is generally held on the 23rd or 24th of the lunar month. It is said that at the end of each year, on the day of Xiaonian, the kitchen god, Taisui God and the folk gods all return to the court of heaven to report their duties to the Jade Emperor. In particular, the kitchen god will report to the jade emperor the right and wrong of the good and evil in the world as the basis for rewards and punishments to human beings. Therefore, most people worship the gods and Kitchen God at this time.
In the past, it was believed that in addition to the wandering God, God set up a supervisor in every household - Zao God (or simangzaojun, Zaojun, Zaowang, Zaowang) to supervise and inspect the family's actions in the past year. At the end of the lunar calendar, the kitchen god ascended with the gods on December 24, leaving only the Ministry to protect the temples and shrines. The kitchen god will report the good and evil of every family to the Jade Emperor, who will decide whether to bless or bring disaster to the family next year.
Therefore, people believe that the solemn sacrifice to the kitchen on the day of Xiaonian can make the kitchen Lord return to heaven to report his work with sweet mouth and many beautiful words. Therefore, on the day of Xiaonian, it becomes a festival for families to send off the kitchen god. The kitchen god was sent away for a small sacrifice until the fourth day of the first month when he received the kitchen god in the evening. Then the kitchen god went down to continue to supervise the good and evil of the family.
Some families in the folk near the stove (modern or gas stove) have the kitchen god's portrait pasted on it. When they worship the stove in their childhood, they usually offer wine and meat, sugar cakes (to make their words sweet and honey), tea and fruit, etc. Some people even prepare grass or fresh vegetables (such as carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, etc.) for the steeds of the kitchen god.
When people in some areas offer sacrifices to the kitchen, they also need to melt the sweet cooking fire such as guandongtang (sugar melon) or rice cake, and put them on the mouth of the kitchen god's portrait (in South China, tangyuan and niangao are mostly used), so as to make it 'sweet mouth', so as to avoid saying bad things about their family in front of the Jade Emperor; the sacrifices of Ryukyu people include garlic, which is intended to hope that the kitchen god will not dare to speak in front of the jade emperor after eating garlic halitosis.
After a year of smoky fire, the face of the portrait is dark. After the old statue is removed and worshiped, it should be burned together with paper horse (or paper crane, paper sedan chair and other means of transportation) and paper money. After the new year, take a picture of kitchen god or a God's seat and paste it for worship. Burn paper money after incense worship.
If there is no one to worship the portrait, the words "the God of the imperial kitchen" and "worship the imperial kitchen" shall be written on red paper, and they shall be pasted on the stove for worship and burned together with the paper money. There are also some people who have not pasted pictures and set up incense tables directly in front of the stoves in their homes, or draw sacrifices directly in the hall of gods or the hall of gods. This process is called the lexicography.
In northern China, it is usually held on the 23rd of the lunar month (December). However, in the southern provinces, such as Lianghu, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where Han people gather, they often offer sacrifices to the kitchen on the 24th of the lunar month (December). In order to make the kitchen god say good things, they should offer sugar melons to the kitchen god, paste sugar on his mouth when sending off, and make him say good things. When burning paper money, they will cremate the pictures of Kitchen God. To welcome back the kitchen master again in the Spring Festival is to invite (buy) a new kitchen master's painting (which depicts the kitchen master and his wife's wife's wife's wife's wife) for the kitchen.
In the south, most people in Minnan and Taiwan think that from this day on, the gods will return to heaven to report their duties, so they will not only offer sacrifices to the kitchen god, but most of them will offer sacrifices to the gods in their families. Therefore, sending God is the main activity of this day. Since then, people have entered the stage of preparing for the new year, and their spirit begins to relax. God sending day is also a "dust sweeping Day". In Southern Fujian and Taiwanese, it is called "Qingdun", which means to prepare for the new year. After sending the gods away, some people will also point incense to worship their ancestors, telling them to "clean up the environment" and then clean up the dust on the shrines and ancestral tablets. However, if you want to get on the God table to clean up, it is usually limited to the men at home.