1, off-year, usually refers to the day of sweeping dust and offering sacrifices to stoves, and is regarded as the beginning of "busy year". Due to the different customs between the north and the south, the days called "off-year" are not the same. The traditional off-year (dust-sweeping day) is the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the tradition of the 24th lunar month is still maintained. 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.

2. Different places have different concepts and dates of "off-year". It is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in most parts of the south. In Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, it is called Xiaonian. In Nanjing, the fifteenth day of the first month is called Lantern Festival. In some parts of Yunnan, it is the 16th day of the first month, and in some parts of southwest and north, it is New Year's Eve.

3. Customs:

Eat stove candy: stove candy, also known as Guandong sugar, is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. Eating stove candy is one of the folk customs that celebrate the Spring Festival every year, which means that "kitchen god" speaks well in heaven and keeps peace in the next world, which is the good wish of working people.

Cleaning the house: in fact, it is also called dust removal, which is also called dust removal, slag removal, dust removal and dust removal. It is one of the traditional folk customs during the Spring Festival in China, and it has entrusted the working people in China with a good wish to ward off evil spirits, eliminate disasters and welcome good luck.

Eat jiaozi and Rice Cake: On the New Year's Eve in the north, we are used to eating jiaozi, which means to send away the kitchen god and "send away the windward side of jiaozi". Eating rice cakes in the south means that people's work and life are improving year by year.

Take a clean bath: Taking a bath before the Chinese New Year is to put on new clothes and string relatives for the Chinese New Year. There is a saying among the people that "you can shave your head for the New Year if you have money".

Set off firecrackers and burn yellow paper to send the kitchen god: it will be held at dusk. The family first set the table in the kitchen room, offered incense to the kitchen god in the shrine on the kitchen wall and offered sacrifices to the kitchen god. After the sacrifice, they will burn the statue of "Nine-day East Chef's Life Kitchen God" which has been posted for one year together with the paper-tied horse.