As the saying goes, "after the eighth year is the year", when the eighth year is over, every household begins to prepare for the New Year. Everyone cleans up the hygiene, buys New Year goods, and when the Spring Festival comes, there will be a lively scene everywhere to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new.
There is such a folk song as "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky; twenty-four, sweeping the house; twenty-five, grinding tofu; twenty-six, stewed pork; twenty-seven, killing fat chicken; twenty-eight, putting the noodles hair; twenty-nine, steaming steamed steamed buns; thirty nights to stay up all night, twisting and turning at the beginning of the New Year." ”
That is to say, after the eighth day of the first lunar month, people will gradually become busy. Especially after the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, there is a lot to do. The old ancestors even compiled the New Year's eve process that was agreed upon in the waxing moon into a folk song.
And there is another saying that the folk have for the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon, that is, the small year.
On this day, people have a very important custom, that is, "sacrifice stove", and folk also say that it is "sending the king of the stove to heaven".
The twenty-third day of the waxing moon is also called the sacrificial stove and the word stove. In the folk there is such a saying "official three people four boat family five", what does it mean?
This saying actually means that the time of folk sacrifice stoves. This saying is that the families of officials and eunuchs, or the government and the imperial court, will sacrifice the stove on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon; while the ordinary poor will sacrifice the stove on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon; the people on the water will be a little later than them, and it will be held on the twenty-fifth day of the waxing moon.
Until now, the time of the festival has varied. For example, some areas in the north will celebrate the small year on the 23rd day of the waxing moon, while some places in the south will celebrate the small year on the 24th day of the waxing moon.
The reason why people sacrifice the stove is because the ancestor believes that the stove prince lived in his home for a year, observed the behavior of the family for a year, and recorded the good and evil of the family.
On the day of the new year, he would return to the heavenly court and then report to the Jade Emperor what he had seen and heard during the year. The Jade Emperor, on the other hand, will issue rewards and punishments for the coming year according to the report of the Emperor of the Stove.
Therefore, in order for the emperor to be able to go to heaven to say a few kind words for himself, people pray for the well-being of the coming year and the blessing of the heavens in the coming year. Therefore, before the Stove King ascends to heaven, he will sacrifice the Stove King well.
In some places, there will be a custom of eating brown candy and sugar melon in the new year, which is what is said in folk songs: "Twenty-three, sugar melon sticky".
So, why did the folk ancestors have the custom of eating brown candy and sugar melon on the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon? In fact, this is also related to the custom of folk sacrifice stoves.
We said before that the sacrifice stove is because the stove king wants to go to heaven to repay the good and evil of his family. Therefore, in order to let the stove king be able to give his family a few more kind words, he will melt the sugar melon and then smear it on the mouth of the stove king, hoping that the stove king will "say good things to heaven" after eating the sugar melon and say some sweet words.
Therefore, some places will also exchange sugar melons for honey.
Another theory is that because the sugar melon is very sticky, I hope that when the king of the stove is in heaven, he can be stuck in the mouth of the sugar melon and will not say bad things at home.
When people worship the Stove King, the portrait of the Stove King will often have a couplet, which is written as "Heaven says good things, return to the palace to descend auspiciously", or "Heaven says good things, the netherworld ensures peace".
Therefore, the main purpose of people's sacrifice to the stove is to hope that the king of the stove can bring people a good day of auspicious health and well-being. This has been the case since ancient times, and the King of the Tiger Stove will inevitably bring a good day to each of us!