The origin of off-year
Generally speaking, off-year is relative to off-year
Off-year is a traditional festival of Han nationality in China, also known as Xie Zao, Zao Zao Festival, Zao Wang Festival and Zao Zao Festival.
Off-year is the day when people offer sacrifices to stoves. There is also a legend about offering sacrifices to stoves. Because every household has a stove, the Jade Emperor stationed a kitchen god in every household to supervise and inspect what he did this year. On off-year day, the kitchen god will report the good and evil of this year to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish him. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to stoves, every household should melt the Kwantung sugar with fire and smear it on the kitchen god's mouth.
The festival of offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove is actually a festival for families to send the kitchen god to heaven. If there is a farewell to the kitchen god, there will be a ceremony to meet the kitchen god next day. On New Year's Eve, the Kitchen King will come to the world with the gods to celebrate the New Year, and there will be ceremonies to "pick up the kitchen" and "pick up the gods" on that day.
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This festival is very interesting. The date is uncertain, some places are the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, while others are the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. But in any case, people who have worked hard for almost a whole year will plan to have a comfortable New Year.
Off-year is the beginning of Chinese New Year.
"Twenty-three, candied melons stick"
"Chinese New Year's Ballad" spreads all over the country. Although some words are slightly different, the first sentence is almost always "twenty-three, candied melons are sticky". Therefore, "eating candied melons" is a very important custom in off-year.
The main raw material of candied melons is maltose, and some yellow rice is added and boiled. It is very sticky. If it is stretched into long strips, it is called "Kwantung Sugar". Knead into a flat round shape, it is called "sugar melon".
Candied melons can be put outside in winter. Because of the cold weather, the candied melon solidified very firmly, but there were some tiny bubbles inside, which tasted cool, crisp and sweet, and had a unique flavor.
In ancient times, candied melons were also called "gum tooth enamel", and "enamel" was sugar, and the name introduced the viscosity of this kind of pastry. Bai Juyi, a great poet, wrote, "After the New Year's Eve, we should push the blue-tailed wine, and after the spring dish, we should persuade the gum tooth to be used first", indicating that this kind of sugar was already a popular seasonal food at that time.
Sacrifice the stove to send the kitchen king.
Candied melons also play an important role, that is, they should be given to "Kitchen God" as a "sacrifice stove" item on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.
"Kitchen God" is also called kitchen king and kitchen king. There has always been a legend among the people: "Kitchen God" was originally a civilian Zhang Sheng, who spent all his time drinking and drinking after marrying his wife, and finally reduced to begging for a living. One day, he begged at the door of his ex-wife's house, ashamed, plunged into the bottom of the stove and burned to death.
When the Jade Emperor knew about it, he thought that he still had a sense of shame, and it was not bad to the end. Since he died at the bottom of the pot, he was named the Kitchen King. Every year, on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, God reports the good and evil of every family, and then goes back on New Year's Eve or the first day of the first month.
The "Kitchen God" painted in the folk New Year is always a kind-hearted old man, sometimes accompanied by a portrait of "Grandma Kitchen King". According to the custom, people should offer sacrifices to the kitchen god in the off-year and bring a plate of candied melons.
The specific ceremony is probably to take off the old image, tie a grass horse for the kitchen god with straw, stick a sticky candied melon on the kitchen king's mouth, and then burn it with the grass horse, which is the "resignation stove".
Xiao Fang, an expert in folklore, said that offering sacrifices to stoves is an important festival custom in traditional off-year, and the name of Kitchen King appeared in the Warring States Period.
It is inevitable that people will bump into each other in their daily lives. People are worried that Kitchen God will make a small report, so they befriend it, commonly known as "Mei Zao". When offering kitchen candy to the kitchen god, pray "sweet and spicy, the kitchen god Mo Yan" and expect him to say more good things the day after tomorrow.
References:
People's Network _ Idle words "off-year": Why is its date different?