Off-year, also known as Kitchen God Festival, Kitchen God Festival and Cleaning Day, is a traditional festival in China. Dates vary from region to region. Most areas in the north are on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, and most areas in the south are on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Before the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Lunar New Year was also celebrated on the 24th in northern China. Since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperor's family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save money", they also worship the kitchen god, so people in the north also celebrate the 23rd day of the lunar calendar one day in advance.
There is also a saying that the ancients in China have a saying that there are three officials, four people and five boats in the off-year, that is, the 23 rd housekeeper in the twelfth lunar month, the 24 th people in the twelfth lunar month, and the 25 th fisherman in the twelfth lunar month. The reason for this division is that before the Song Dynasty, the north was mostly a political center and was deeply influenced by official culture. Northerners choose the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month as the off-year holiday, while the south is far from the political center, and the off-year holiday is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. The coastal areas of Poyang Lake maintain the old custom of boating, and the off-year holiday is chosen on the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.
The origin of the festival:
Off-year is usually considered as the beginning of a busy year, which means that people begin to prepare new year's goods, sweep dust and offer sacrifices to stoves. And prepare for a clean and beautiful year, expressing people's good wishes to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Due to different local customs, the days called "off-year" are different.
In some places in modern China, the off-year is "official, three people, four boats and five", that is to say, the off-year of the official is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the off-year of the people is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month and the off-year of the houseboat is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the traditional off-year is on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperors worshipped the Kitchen God on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month one day in advance, and people in the northern areas followed suit, and they also celebrated the Lunar New Year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month one day in advance.