Why is there a big difference between the 23rd lunar month in the north and the 24th lunar month in the southern and southern months?

"Say goodbye to the old and welcome the new year, clean the window and sweep the stove. Send the king of the stove to heaven, and welcome auspiciousness with a lot of good words. "Entering the second month of the lunar month, the new year is approaching. The New Year is like the prelude to the Spring Festival, every household has to start to get busy, rush to the market to buy New Year's goods, go to the shopping mall to buy new clothes, and the streets and alleys are hung with red lanterns, lively and festive.

However, every time the New Year is celebrated, the north and the south can always cause a fierce debate about "which day is the new year". China has a vast territory, there are great differences in customs and habits in various places, so that the traditional folk festival of Xiao Nian has become very irregular, not only the folk activities are different, but even the time is different, the north is generally the twenty-third month of the lunar month, most of the southern areas will not start to celebrate the small year until the twenty-fourth of the lunar month, and some fishermen and residents on the island, the small year will be even later, until the twenty-fifth day of the lunar month will officially begin, so what day is the real small year?

In fact, about the date of the small year, the folk have always had the saying of "the official three people, the four boats and the five", most of the time in ancient times was not divided into the north and the south, in fact, it was the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month to pass the small year, the local customs of the Jin Dynasty "The Records of the Wind and Soil" recorded: "On the twenty-fourth day and night of the lunar month, the stove is said to be the next day of the stove god to go to the sky, and the white one year old, so the first day to worship it." Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty wrote in the "Poem of the Sacrifice Stove": "In ancient times, the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, the king of the stove wanted to say things", from this point of view, the orthodox time of the New Year should be the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month.

However, from the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the northern small year during the Yongzheng Emperor period was changed to the twenty-third day of the lunar month. It is said that every year on the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the Yongzheng Emperor will worship the gods in the Kunning Palace, that is, to report the work summary of the year to the gods of heaven and earth.

At that time, the people in the north were deeply affected by the imperial power, and they also followed the upward and downward effects, and the small year in the north became the twenty-third day of the lunar month, and the south, which was far away from the capital at that time, still maintained the original tradition, and the small year was still the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, so there was a situation where the small year in the north and south was not on the same day. Of course, different regions also have different customs, in addition to the 24th and 23rd lunar months in the north and south, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai call the day before Chinese New Year's Eve a small year, and the small year in Guizhou and Sichuan is Chinese New Year's Eve.

Do the folk customs of the North and South celebrate the New Year send the stove to the prince?

Regardless of the south or the north, the most important folk customs of the new year are inseparable from the "sacrificial stove", the sacrificial stove originated from people's earliest worship and awe of fire, according to legend, the responsibility of the stove prince is responsible for the management of the stove fire, the management of three meals a day, the old saying "the people take food as the sky", such an important position also makes it become the "head of the family", on this day of the year, the stove prince wants to return to the heavenly court, and report the big and small things at home to the Jade Emperor.

In order to let the stove prince go to heaven after the people have more good words, say more good words, let the heavens give more blessings in the coming year, hope that they will have a bumper harvest in the coming year, more than food and clothing, and rolling wealth, and naturally will be willing to see off the stove prince, put on a variety of sacrifices and wines, "twenty-three, sugar melon sticky", there must be stove sugar in the sacrifice, stick to the mouth of the stove prince who wants to sue, let the stove king eat and drink, drunk and full of heaven, don't talk about the short and long of the world in front of the Jade Emperor, I hope he can "say good things from heaven, and the lower world is safe and healthy".

The food customs of the Southern and Northern Chinese New Year festivals are different and very different

Northerners almost make dumplings and cook dumplings to eat during the New Year, and the same is true on this day. The shape of the dumplings is like ingots, and there are meat and vegetables in the bulging "belly", which symbolizes the blessing of reunion, fortune and treasure, and it tastes delicious and anti-hunger, which is an irreplaceable festival food custom in the north. When sacrificing to the stove, a bowl of hot dumplings will be cooked and placed on the offering table, so that the king of the stove will be satisfied with the first meal.

In addition to eating dumplings in various parts of the north, places like Henan, Hebei and other places will also eat fire, which means that life is prosperous. On the 23rd day of the lunar month, the business of the baked cake stall will be very good, and the queue to buy the baked cake will often be very long. On this day's fire, you will generally buy "sweet fire", the fire is sandwiched with brown sugar or white sugar, buy it home and offer it to the stove sugar first, hoping that the fragrant and sweet fire will make the stove prince eat it will be like eating the stove sugar, and God will say a few more words of "sweet words".

In the south, when they are young, they love to eat rice balls and rice cakes, and the rice balls are also called "dumplings", "dumplings", and also have the meaning of "family reunion". The homonym of rice cake is the high year, a good omen of good luck, implying that life and career are rising year by year. These two things are also sweet, soft and sticky teeth, and the stove sugar is provided to the stove prince to eat together with the stove sugar in the small year, so that the mouth of the stove prince is sweet, and he does not say a bad word.

In fact, it's not just the New Year, the Spring Festival is the same, basically it's still the pattern of "eating dumplings in the north and eating glutinous rice balls in the south", the south will make bacon and rice cakes before the Spring Festival, and the north will steam steamed buns and croquettes before the Spring Festival, in short, it is a lively and festive atmosphere.

There is no money, go home for the New Year, in fact, whether the Spring Festival is in the south or in the north, we all have the same heart of reunion, enjoy the warmth of reunion with our families, and look forward to eating a hearty and happy Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, here I also wish everyone a happy Spring Festival in advance, all the best, and good luck!

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