[Traditional customs] worship the kitchen god during the new year

Today is the 23rd of the lunar calendar, also known as Xiaonian, the 23rd in the north and the 24th of the lunar calendar in most places in the south. It is said that "after a small year is a new year", starting from today, there are things to do every day, every day is very busy, until the 30th of the new year.

In our hometown, it is not called Xiaonian, we call this day a sacrifice stove. It can be seen that the sacrificial stove is the most important traditional custom on the day of the new year. It is said that on this day the Kitchen God will report to the Jade Emperor all the affairs of the people in the year, our good and evil deeds, and will come back on the first day of the new year. So on this day, we all worship the Kitchen God, that is to say, before he ascends to the sky, we will entertain him and bid him farewell, hoping that he can say good things to the Jade Emperor. The customs of different places are different, and the tributes to worship are also different.

My mother worships the Kitchen God every year. According to our tradition, she cooks several kinds of dishes, both vegetarian and meat dishes. Later, I wrote a ritual for her, the simplest but standard, including from the prayer to the final dedication, just read it according to the steps. Instead of cooking, use vegetarian food such as dried fruit, honey, candy, soybeans, etc.

As the saying goes, women don't worship the stove, men don't worship the moon, and men should do things to worship the stove. I just told her to let my nephew do it. My mother was very worried and said that the child couldn’t do it. I said it’s ok. A dictionary is just fine. As a result, the child read very smoothly and was very happy. Now he is doing it every year, taking on the responsibility of the man in the family.

One point is that after the Kitchen God is sent to the sky, it will be picked up on the first day of the new year, so every year it is one delivery and one pick up. The Kitchen God is actually the god most closely related to our people. He is not just in charge of our food. He is very powerful and a very important god. In Buddhism, he is called the Bodhisattva Prisoner. From ancient times to the present, some people have fulfilled their wishes by delivering their wishes to the Kitchen God. For example, in an emergency at home, if a child is missing and cannot find someone who can ask the Kitchen God for help, after all He is very familiar with the god of the earth.

In our place, everyone affectionately calls him the kitchen master, kitchen milk, who is the closest god to us.

Tradition believes that these days the kitchen god is in heaven, and the other gods, including the fierce god, are also on vacation, so it is called "chaotic days". Everyone can let go, there are no taboos, and you can do anything, such as marriage, moving, debt collection, etc. You can choose to do it in these days. In fact, this is also a very wise and humorous way of saying the common people, relax a little.

I remember that when I was a child, on the day of offering sacrifices to the stove, my grandmother would take a bit of straw and wipe it close to the filth, as if it were a child’s mouth, and then throw it out. This means that during the New Year, everyone should say good things and good things. If children are ignorant, they may say some bad or inappropriate words, then by doing such a blinding method, it will not happen. effect. But our children will know in their hearts that from now on, they must be careful with their words and not talk indiscriminately.

During the new year, what people generally do:

1. worship the kitchen god
2. Window grilles are more common in the north, where we stick couplets.
3. cleaning
4. When people shave their hair, they all say, "If you have money or no money, you should shave your head during the New Year."
5. Making dumplings, dumplings will be made during the New Year's Eve in the north, and they will be round and round.

It's another year, everyone is auspicious!