Eat sugar on New Year's Day, in order to paste everyone's mouth, do not say unlucky words during New Year's Day; there is also a saying that the mouth of the God of the stove with sugar to stick open, can not be reported to the Jade Emperor, so as to avoid the love of food and drink people were punished, the New Year brings famine, looking forward to a safe and fruitful year to come.
Why is Zao sugar especially sticky
The custom of sacrificing to the stove has a long history, and "sugar gourd sticky" is a standardized program. People offer the sweet and sticky Zao sugar to Zao Wang in the hope that it will stick to his mouth, so that he can "say good things in the sky and bring good fortune down to the world".
Can Zaosu candy really stick to the Zaosu king's mouth? This may just be a good wish of the people, but Zaoshan is really very sticky is true. So, why is it that Zaosu sugar has the characteristic of stickiness? In order to illustrate this question, we might as well take a look at its raw material - caramel ingredients are what.
The main component of caramel is maltose, which is the source of the sweetness of caramel. After maltose, it contains dextrin, so what does dextrin do?
Dextrin is a large molecule of polysaccharide between starch and maltose, composed of many glucose units. Although dextrin is sugar, but no sweet flavor. It is dispersed in water to produce a large viscosity, which can be utilized to make adhesives.
Such as the use of corn dextrin adhesive, can be used as cartons, boxes, stamps, wallpaper, envelopes, tape and other adhesives. So it seems, caramel "sticky" full strength is not due to the dextrin component? Said stove sugar in the "glue", is just to give the dextrin an image of the statement.
Small year why eat hemp sugar small year eat hemp sugar origin
Hemp sugar
Small year traditional customs introduced
Sacrifice zaowang
Small year this day, but also is the day of the han ethnic folk sacrifice stove. According to Han folklore, every year on the twenty-third day of the Lunar New Year, the Zaowang master goes up to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the good and bad deeds of this family, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish them. Therefore, when sending the stove, people in front of the Zao Wang statue on the table for candy, water, beans, fodder grass; which, the latter three is for the Zao Wang ascension of the mount prepared materials. At the time of the Zaos offering, the Guandong candies are also melted with fire and applied to the mouth of the Zao Wang. In this way, he will not be able to speak ill of the Jade Emperor. There is a custom in Han Chinese folklore that "men don't worship the moon, women don't sacrifice to the stove", so sacrificing to Zaowangwang is limited to men only.
Additionally, on the night of the 30th day of the Lunar New Year, the king of the kitchen stove has to come to the earth with all the gods to celebrate the New Year, and on that day, there must be the ceremony of "receiving the stove" and "receiving the gods". When every household burns the sedan chair, sprinkle wine three cups, send away the god of the stove, then it is the turn to worship the ancestors.
Sweeping up the dust
After the 23rd day of the Chinese New Year, there are only six or seven days left, and preparations for the New Year seem even more enthusiastic. To thoroughly clean the interior, commonly known as dust sweeping, dust sweeping in order to get rid of the old and welcome the new, to pull out the ominous. Every house should be carefully and thoroughly cleaned, so that the windows are clear. Paint the walls, scrub the glass, paste the window, paste the New Year's picture and so on.
Cutting and pasting of window decorations
Of all the preparations, cutting and pasting of window decorations is the most popular folklore activity. The content of a variety of animals, plants and other palindromes, such as magpies, swallows through the peach and willow, peacocks play peonies, lions rolled embroidered balls, three sheep (Yang) Kaitai, two dragons play pearls, deer and crane Tongchun (six contracts spring), five bats (Fukushima) hold life, rhinoceros looking at the moon, Lotus (Lian) years of fish (Yu), mandarin ducks playing in the water, the Golden Cicada in Liu Hai play, and the two Immortals, and so on.
Why eat sesame candies on New Year's Eve The origin of eating sesame candies on New Year's Eve
Cutting the windowpane
Posting Spring Festival couplets
Households have to write Spring Festival couplets. Han Chinese folk say that every god must be posted, every door must be posted, and every object must be posted, so the number of spring couplets is the largest and most complete. The couplets in front of the gods are especially elaborate, mostly words of worship and prayers. Commonly, there are heaven and earth god couplets: "heavenly grace is as deep as the sea, the earth's virtue is as heavy as a mountain"; land god couplets: "earth out of white jade, gold in the ground"; god of wealth couplets: "heavenly source of wealth, the earth's God of fortune and fortune "; Wells God Couplet: "Wells can pass through the four seas, the family can reach the three rivers". Face grain silos, corrals and other places in the Spring Festival couplets, are to express warm celebration and hope. Such as "five grains, six animals prosper", "rice and noodles as thick as a mountain, oil and salt as deep as the sea", "cattle like a tiger in the South Mountain, horses like the North Sea Dragon", "sheep year after year, lamb month after month," and so on. "etc. In addition, there are some single couplets, such as each indoor sticker "look up to see joy", the door across the sticker "out of the door to see joy", the fire on the sticker "Wang Qi Chong Tian", the yard sticker "Full of gold in the yard", "deep roots" on the tree, "White Tiger" on the stone mill, and so on. Couplets on the door, is the face of a family, pay special attention to, or lyrical, or write the scene, rich in content, wonderful words.
Bathing
Adults and children have to take a bath and get a haircut. Han Chinese folk have "money or no money, shaved head for the New Year". Lvliang area preaching the 27th day of the waxing moon foot washing. On the evening of this day, aunt-in-law Ruzi all use boiling water to wash their feet. Do not understand the girls, adults should also help her feet scrubbed clean, without leaving a little dirt. Han Chinese folk legend has it that "the twenty-seventh day of the Lunar New Year, mother-in-law aunt Ruzi are washing feet. One does not wash the feet, pus and water for seven months," the proverb.