The origin of the festival:
According to legend, Kitchen God was originally a civilian, Zhang Sheng. After marriage, he spent all his time drinking, losing everything and begging in the streets. One day, he begged at his ex-wife Guo Dingxiang's house, ashamed and burned to death under the stove.
When the Jade Emperor knew about it, he thought that Zhang Sheng would change his mind, and it wouldn't be bad in the end. Because he died at the bottom of the pot, he was named the kitchen god. Every year, he went to heaven on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month and returned to the bottom of the stove on the New Year's Eve. The people think that the kitchen god must be respected because he wants to repay the kindness to heaven. Therefore, the Han people celebrate the "off-year" on the 23rd and 24th of the twelfth lunar month, praying for peace and wealth in the coming year.
In Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda said in "Poem of Sacrificing a Kitchen": "According to legend, there was a twelfth lunar month in ancient times, and the kitchen owner spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is rotten and hot, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste is Gan Song powder bait. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell the struggle of servants, and you are not angry about the horns of cats and dogs; I'll send you to Tianmen to get drunk. If you are long and short, don't go back to Yuntou and beg for points in the city. " It can be said that this poem vividly illustrates the customs and habits of ancient Han people about offering sacrifices to stoves. Of course, this is only a legend of the Han people, and it is not credible.