"Twenty-three, the sugar melon is sticky, and the lord of the stove king will ascend to heaven." Little year, worship the stove king, lick a sugar melon, to the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, not far from the Spring Festival, but with the passage of time, the taste of the year in recent years is not as good as before, in recent years, the children who were born have not even heard who this stove prince is, the New Year is not to pay attention to a sense of ceremony, even the legend of the small year of the next generation does not know, do not hurry to tell them.
The legend of the King of Vesta
We Chinese lunar new year, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of the waxing moon every year is our traditional small new year's day, the northerners twenty-three, the southerners twenty-four. This day of the Small Year is also the traditional day of the stove, and when it comes to the small year, it is necessary to mention the king of the stove.
"Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks Nuogao Record" Yun, the original name of the King of the Stove was called Zhang Dan, taking the character Guo, the face is like a good woman, born with a lot of emotions, marrying his wife and having six daughters, and divorcing his wife if he is not in harmony with his wife. After divorcing his wife, he lost his family business, begged for a living, begged to his wife's home one day, Zhang Shan was ashamed and embarrassed, and when he saw his wife faceless, he went into the stove to hide and was burned to death, and the Jade Emperor felt that he had a repentant heart, so he named him the king of the stove. There are also rumors that Zhang Shan was worshipped as the king of the stove because he made a stove.
Another legend is that before the king of the stove became a god, he was a corrupt official, but he was greedy not for treasure, but for food, every day there must be good food to eat, the good and hungry corrupt officials make the people unbearable, a god passed by here to see the situation, he pushed this corrupt official to the stove, became the stove king, and watched others eat every day.
Because the stove king is in charge of the fireworks and food in the world, the people in ancient times had great respect for the stove king, so they had to sacrifice the stove every year.
Which one is a small year
The folk sacrifice stove originated from the myth and legend that the stove prince had to report to the Jade Emperor, and it was said that every twenty-third day of the waxing moon, the stove king would go to the heavenly court to report the folk good and evil to the jade emperor, and the common people would sacrifice the stove on this day in order to make the stove king say a few words in front of the jade emperor, and offer sugar melons to the stove king. There is a folk proverb "Twenty-three eat sugar melons, paste the mouth of the king of the stove" is to say this custom.
But now, with the circulation of information, people have found that the dates of the northern and southern sacrifice stoves are different, the southerners are twenty-four, and the northerners are twenty-three. Some people are confused, is this king of the stove heaven the twenty-third or twenty-fourth of the waxing moon?
The Jin Dynasty's "Record of Customs" mentions: "On the night of the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, the stove is said to be the god of the stove the next day to go to heaven, and the white is one year old, so the first day is worshiped." There is also the Song Dynasty Wen Tianxiang's "Twenty-Four Days": "Three days before the Spring Festival, Jiangxiang is a small year." "The ancient Spring Festival refers to Li Chun.
Therefore, at the beginning, the small year sacrifice stove was on the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon, but with the passage of time, for the date of the small year sacrifice stove, there was gradually a saying: "officials three people four boats five", which means that the official eunuch family is twenty-three, the folk is twenty-four, and the water family is twenty-five.
During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor sacrificed the stove prince on the night of the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, because the king of the stove went up to heaven twenty-four times, and the effect of going up and down, the officials also followed the emperor to sacrifice on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, and the common people saw the sacrifice on this day and followed the sacrifice. In this way, the northern region has more than twenty-three sacrifices to the stove king, and the south still sacrifices the stove king because of the difficulty of information circulation.
Customs of the Little Year
The new year is not a few days away from the New Year, life should have a sense of ceremony, if the New Year's taste is enough, you may wish to pick up the customs of the ancestors, have a sense of ceremony in the small year, sacrifice stove and eat sugar melon I will not say. The customs of this small year also include sticking window flowers, eating dumplings, and preparing New Year goods. So on this day, you may wish to eat dumplings with your family, paste a few beautiful window flowers to decorate the house, and take your family to the market to hang out and buy some New Year goods.
The new year is coming soon, and this little year is not ready!