Offering sacrifices to stoves is one of the main customs in the off-year period. Folk offering sacrifices to stoves originated from the ancient custom of worshipping fire. In Interpretation of the Name, the kitchen god's duty is to take charge of the kitchen fire and manage the diet. Later, it was expanded to investigate the good and evil in the world, so as to reduce the good and evil. According to the local customs and records written by Zhou, a celebrity in the Jin Dynasty in China, it was recorded that on the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god was sacrificed to heaven the next day.
Before the mid-Qing Dynasty, the day of offering sacrifices to the stove was always the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, and at least until the Qianlong period, it was the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. In Qing Jia Lu, Volume 12, "Reading Four Nights in December", it was said that the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month was the night of offering sacrifices to the stove. In Qing Dynasty, it was said in the Legacy of the Qing Palace in unofficial history Grand View that once in Qianlong, the kitchen god was worshipped at Kunning Palace on the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month every year.
The Customs of Off-year in the North
Off-year doesn't refer to a single day. Due to local customs, the days called off-year are not the same. The 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional day for offering sacrifices to stoves in the north, which is also called off-year and Kitchen King's Day. During off-year in the north, folk activities include sweeping dust, stick grilles, bathing and getting a haircut, getting married in disorder, eating candied melons in king of people, eating jiaozi and eating fire. Because of local differences, customs may be different.
In the north, there is a folk saying, "Don't be greedy for children. It's the year after Laba, but it's the beginning of the new year that is really busy. Twenty-three, sweet potatoes stick; Twenty-four, sweep the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, stewed pork; Twenty-seven, slaughter the year chicken; Twenty-eight, send your face; Twenty-nine, steamed buns; Stay up all night for 30 nights, and walk all over the street on the second day of the first day.