Off-year is called the prelude to the new year, and it is usually regarded as the beginning of a "busy year", that is, from the day of off-year, everything must be prepared for the new year. In folklore, the origin of off-year is related to the activities of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people call it off-year and it is a festival to worship the kitchen god. The custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god has a long history.

In the past, almost every kitchen had a kitchen god. "Kitchen God" is also called "Bodhisattva in charge of life", "Kitchen God" or "Kitchen God in charge of life". It is said that he is the "Nine-day East Chef in Charge of Kitchen Fire" sealed by the Jade Emperor. He is the god in charge of diet in ancient China myths and legends and is worshipped as the head of the family.

The custom of off-year

1, eat jiaozi

We should eat the winter solstice, we should eat it the next year, and we should also eat jiaozi on New Year's Eve and the fifth and seventh day of the seventh month. Probably because jiaozi can put a lot of dishes, it is easy to cook, and it is more interesting for a family to sit together and eat hot jiaozi.

Jiaozi can be stuffed at will, but meat can be vegetarian, fish can eat meat, and the family economy allows all meat. It doesn't matter if the economy is almost there. In fact, the point is just to eat jiaozi, not stuffing.

2. stick grilles

After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, it was very close to the Spring Festival, and we began to decorate our homes door to door. Generally, window grilles in rural areas are cut by themselves. Skillful old people cut beautiful window grilles and put them on their grandchildren, but in cities, they mostly buy window grilles, lacking a trace of joy and the annual taste of cutting window grilles.

Step 3 sacrifice the stove

This is a folk legend, but now many rural people still believe it, so they will put some sweets such as melon, kitchen candy and water in front of the statue of the kitchen god to show their sincere worship to the kitchen god, in order to let the kitchen god say more good things in front of the jade emperor. Of course, not everyone can worship the kitchen god. Only men can attend worship, but women are not allowed.