Folk custom of the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.

There are two ballads of Han nationality in southeastern Shanxi. One is "Twenty-three, send the master to heaven; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, steamed dumplings; Twenty-six, cut meat; Twenty-seven, tin cleaner; Twenty-eight, sloppy; Twenty-nine, washing feet; On the 30th, the door gods and couplets were pasted together. It shows that time is tight and preparation is tight. The second is a nursery rhyme: "Twenty-three, sacrifice the stove, the children clap their hands and laugh." In five or six days, the new year is coming. Bad box, playing with walnuts, losing two shots. When Wu Zixu ping-pong rang, the fire rose higher than the sky. "This reflects the joy of children looking forward to the New Year. Among all the preparations, cutting window grilles and stick grilles are the most popular folk activities. . There are all kinds of drama stories. Folk customs include "Da Deng Dian, Du Ermei, Three Mothers teach four places, five women celebrate their birthdays, six are in the snow, the seventh day of July is Tianhe, and nine clothes celebrate the birthday of the Eight Immortals", which reflects the folk preference for opera stories. In a family with a new wife, the new wife should bring all kinds of window grilles cut by herself, go back to her husband's house and put up windows, and neighbors will come to see them. After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should steam steamed bread. Generally speaking, it can be divided into two types: worshipping God and visiting relatives. The former is solemn, while the latter is gorgeous. In particular, I want to make a jujube hill dedicated to the kitchen god. " A steamed bread, neighbors come to help. " This is often a great opportunity for folk women to show their dexterity. Steamed bread is a handicraft. The custom of sending stoves is very common in the north and south of China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote a poem that "it is a thing to send a stove to the Boxer": only chicken glue is sweet and clothes are fragrant. If there is nothing at home, there are only a few antelopes.

He said in the article "The Day of Sending Kitchen Stoves": "On the day when the chef ascended to heaven, there was still a kind of sugar on the street, which was as big as a citrus. We also have it there, but it's flat, like thick pancakes. That's the so-called' gum teeth'. The original intention is to ask the kitchen god to eat it and stick his teeth so that he can't speak ill of the jade emperor. " The allusion of "Antelope" in Lu Xun's poems comes from The Biography of Yin Shi in the Later Han Dynasty: "When Xuan Di proclaimed himself emperor, Yinzifang was the most filial and kind. Cooking in the morning of the twelfth day, seeing the kitchen god, the children have to worship and celebrate; There is an antelope at home, so it is worshipped. After the third one, he naturally became extremely rich. I know the third world, but I am prosperous. Therefore, I often recommend antelope to sacrifice the stove on the twelfth day. " Yin Zifang met the Kitchen God and sacrificed the antelope. Later, she got lucky. Since then, the custom of sacrificing antelope to the kitchen has been handed down.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the offerings for offering sacrifices to stoves were quite rich. Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote a very vivid description of the folk activities of offering sacrifices to stoves at that time: it is said in ancient times that in the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god spoke to heaven. Clouds, cars and horses linger, and there are cups and plates at home. The pig's head is cooked, the fish is fresh, and the bean paste and Gan Song bait are round. When a man asks his daughter to avoid it, he drinks and burns money. You can't smell your servant's struggle, and your cat and dog don't feel angry when they touch you. Send you to Tianmen to get drunk, and don't repeat the clouds with long spoons and short spoons, begging for points from the market.

The sacrificial furnace on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the New Year in China. Because, a week later, on New Year's Eve, Kitchen God came to the world with the good and bad fortune that the family should get. Kitchen God is considered to guide the gods in the sky. Other gods have ascended to heaven after the Chinese New Year, and only Kitchen God will stay in other people's kitchens for a long time. The ceremony of welcoming God is called "receiving God", and the kitchen god is called "receiving kitchen". Generally, it is New Year's Eve to pick up the kitchen, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, just put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

As the saying goes, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen". In some places, women don't sacrifice stoves. It is said that the kitchen god looks like a small white face and is afraid of women offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, which is "suspected of men and women." The origin of Kitchen God has a long history. Among the Han folk gods in China, the qualification of Kitchen God has a long history. As early as the Xia Dynasty, he was already a great god revered by the people. According to the ancient book The Book of Rites, Confucius said: "The son of Zhuan Xu is called Li, Zhu Rong, and he is worshipped as the kitchen god." "Zhuangzi Sheng Da" records: "The stove has a bun." Sima Biao commented: "bun, kitchen god, dressed in red, looks like a beautiful woman." "Bao Puzi Wei Zhi" also recorded: "On a moonlit night, Kitchen God also accused the white people." These records are probably the source of Kitchen God. Also, or the Kitchen God is a "Suiren" who digs firewood to make a fire; Or Shennong's "fire official"; Or "Su Liji" in "The Yellow Emperor Cooking Ren"; Or the kitchen god surnamed Zhang, the name list, the word Guo; Opinions vary.

Due to different local customs, there are also activities of "jumping the kitchen king" and "beating the kitchen king" among the Han people. After the Stove Festival, preparations for the Chinese New Year officially began. Every year from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, China folks call this period "Spring Festival" or "Dust Day". Dust removal is year-end cleaning, which is called "house cleaning" in the north and "dust removal" in the south. It is a traditional habit of our people to sweep the dust before the Spring Festival. Whenever the Spring Festival comes, every household should clean the environment, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains, sweep six yards, dust cobwebs and dredge culverts in open channels. North and south of the great river, there is an atmosphere of jubilation, sanitation and clean welcome for the Spring Festival.

The custom of "sweeping the house with dust on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, because of the homonym of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the Spring Festival means "getting rid of the old and not being new", and its original intention is to sweep away all "unlucky" and "unlucky". This custom has placed people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

"Three-body God" Taoism is called "God" for human body. According to the "Taishang Three Corpses", "The name of the corpse is Peng Shu, in the head; The name of China's body is Peng, which is in the abdomen; The name of this body is Jiao Peng, which is in the human foot. " He also said that on that day, they went to heaven to tell the emperor Chen about human sins; But as long as people stay up late, it can be avoided. This is the so-called "keeping Geng Shen", which cuts out window grilles and sticks them in clean rooms, adding a lot of joy to the family's New Year.

There are various animals, plants and figures in the window patterns, such as magpies climbing plum blossoms, peacocks beating peonies, lions rolling hydrangeas, three sheep (Yang) opening Thailand, two dragons playing pearls, deer crane (Liuhe Tongchun), five bats (Fu) holding longevity, rhinoceros looking at the moon, lotus (Lotus) playing with water and bangs, etc. There is an old saying: "Twenty-three, cantaloupes are sticky, and the master of the kitchen goes to heaven."

Eating stove candy is a kind of maltose, which is very sticky. A candy bar drawn into a long strip is called "Guandong Sugar", and one drawn into a flat circle is called "Sugar Melon". When it is placed outside in winter, because of the cold weather, the honeydew melon is solidified firmly, and there are some tiny bubbles in it, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor. The real kwantung candy is too hard to break. Be sure to split it with a kitchen knife when eating. The material is very heavy and fine. The taste is slightly sour, there is no honeycomb in the middle, each piece weighs one or two, two or four, and the price is relatively expensive. Sugar, sesame sugar and non-sesame sugar. Sugar is made into melon shape or north melon shape. The center is empty and the skin thickness is less than five points. Although the size is different, the transaction is still calculated by weight. The big honeydew melon weighs one or two Jin, but few people buy it as a cover.

Guandong Sugar is also called Chef King Sugar and Big Sugar. After one year, it will only be sold around the next year. Guandong sugar is a sugar product made of malt and millet, which is used to worship the kitchen god. The Chronicle of Yanjing Years written by the Qing Dynasty records that there are "Guandong Sugar" and "Sugar Cake" in the offerings of the Qing Dynasty. Guandong sugar is sold in rural areas, cities, streets and markets in Northeast China: "Big sugar, big sugar, crispy big sugar." A large piece of milky white sugar, placed on a square plate, is usually three inches long and one inch wide, flat and silky. A large piece of newly-made candy tastes crisp, fragrant and sticky and has a special taste. It is a kind of candy that is very popular among men, women and children in Kanto. It has been handed down from the kitchen god's sacrificial table and is widely loved by the people.