Small Year customs
Sacrifice to the King of Stoves
The day of the Small Year is also the day of the folk festival stove. (But now that traditional stoves have withdrawn from the lives of urban dwellers, the rituals attached to them are only preserved in some rural areas.) According to folklore, every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the Emperor of the Stove would go to heaven to report the good and evil of the family to the Jade Emperor, and let the Jade Emperor reward and punish.
Therefore, when sending stoves, people put candy, water, beans, etc. on the table in front of the statue of the king of the stove to show their sincerity to worship the king of the stove, in order to let the king of the stove say more good things in front of the Jade Emperor.
Sweep the dust
Every time the Spring Festival comes, every household must clean the environment, clean all kinds of utensils, remove and wash the bedding curtains, sprinkle the room courtyard, dust and cobwebs, and clean up the Spring Festival.
The north is called "sweeping the house", and the south is also called "dust dust".
Because of the harmonic sound of "dust" and "Chen", the new spring sweeping dust has the meaning of removing "Chen" (dust) and spreading new, and its intention is to sweep out all the "poor luck" and "obscurity" out of the door, pinning people's good wishes for breaking the old and building a new one.
Eat stove sugar
Stove sugar is a sweet food made with caramel. So, what is caramel? Caramel is a kind of edible sugar made by fermenting starchy grain raw materials such as corn, glutinous rice, and japonica rice.
According to folklore, every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the Emperor of the Stove would go to heaven to report the good and evil of the family to the Jade Emperor, and let the Jade Emperor reward and punish. So the people sacrificed the stove, which means to paste the mouth of the king of the stove with sugar, and say some sweet words after the day of heaven.;;
Eat sugar melon
Bath haircut
When I was young, adults and children had to take a bath and get a haircut, and there was a saying that "there is no money, shave your head for the New Year".
Removing the dust and obscurity of the previous year and bringing good luck to the new year is the purpose of bathing.
Therefore, in addition to the new look in the home, every family member should take a bath, get a haircut, fade the obscurity of the past, and start a good omen for the auspicious and smooth New Year.
Cut the window flowers
Cutting and pasting window flowers is a popular folk activity in the small year. The contents of the window flowers include various animals and plants, such as magpies climbing plums, swallows wearing peach willows, etc.
Eat dumplings
In the New Year, folk eat dumplings. It means "sending off dumplings to the wind".
In many areas, dumplings are eaten in various ways as soon as the waxing moon arrives.
The winter solstice should be eaten, the small year should also be eaten, and the Chinese New Year's Eve, the first five and the first seven must also eat dumplings...
Happy New Year to all