What are the customs of celebrating Xiaonian? Why is Xiaonian different in the south and the north?

Most regions have the custom of celebrating the Little New Year. On this day, people are busy preparing New Year goods and New Year's Eve dinner to welcome the New Year. The Little New Year is also a traditional festival, so there are some traditional customs. Every year, the north and south will compete for the day of the Little New Year. So why is the Little New Year in the south different from the Little New Year in the north?

What are the customs of celebrating the Little New Year?

Worship the Kitchen God

This is the most important activity during the Little New Year.

According to legend, the Kitchen God is a messenger sent by the Jade Emperor to protect the safety of a family. He returns to Heaven on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year to report on the family's performance. People naturally hope that the Kitchen God will say more good things about them and accumulate blessings for them, so on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, they see the Kitchen God off.

When sending off the Kitchen God, offerings must be placed, including candy, water, beans, couplets, grass, etc. When offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, Guandong sugar is melted with fire and applied to the Kitchen God's mouth, so that he cannot say bad things to the Jade Emperor.

In some places, people put up portraits of the Kitchen God. When the old portrait is removed, a new one is brought in.

Eat sweets

There are many kinds of sweets, including malt sugar, sugar melon, sesame candy, sticky cakes from Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, popcorn candy from Shaanxi, and rice dumplings from Guangxi.

There is a folk saying, "On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Kitchen God goes to heaven with a piece of sugar in his mouth. He doesn't need to say a word in front of the Jade Emperor. He comes back to our home to celebrate the New Year with rice, noodles and clothes to wear." It means that people feed malt sugar to Kitchen God in the hope that he will say something good in front of the Jade Emperor and bring good luck to themselves.

Spring Cleaning

Clean the house, wipe the windows, wash the clothes, scrub the pots and pans, get rid of the old and welcome the new, and prepare for the New Year!

In the southern regions, this day is the day for dusting. "Dust" and "Chen" are homophones, which means to dust off all the old things and the unpleasantness and bad luck encountered in the past.

There are also other customs such as bathing and haircutting, preventing incestuous marriages, pasting window flowers, eating dumplings in the north and glutinous rice balls in the south.

Why is the Little New Year in the South different from that in the North?

In fact, in ancient times, worshipping the Kitchen God and the Little New Year were always linked together, and the Little New Year was celebrated on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. However, during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Yongzheng would worship various gods on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year, and "by the way" he would also worship the Kitchen God. The palace gradually began to celebrate the Little New Year on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month.

Following the example of the superiors, the northern regions also began to celebrate the Little New Year on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month under the influence of the official atmosphere. The southern regions have always kept the tradition of celebrating the Little New Year on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

Introduction to the Customs of Offering Sacrifice to the Kitchen God during the Little New Year

In the old days, almost every family had a "Kitchen God" shrine on the stove, usually on the north or east side of the kitchen, with a statue of the Kitchen God in the middle. In some places, the statue would be directly pasted on the wall, sometimes only the Kitchen God was painted, and some statues would also have a "Kitchen God's Wife", plus a couplet on both sides of the "Golden Boy and Jade Girl" with the words "Speak good things to the heavens, and keep the world safe", and a horizontal banner with the words "Head of the Family" to indicate the Kitchen God's status.

After dark on that day, an offering table is set up in front of the statue and incense is lit. The tribute is very particular. It is called "stove sugar" which is made of syrup with glutinous rice or malt. There are vendors who sell it before the New Year. It is sweet and sticky. Ordinary people buy it and eat it. It has even spread to the interior of the country. People in the interior call this kind of sugar "Guandong sugar". Why is it sticky? Because during the ritual of offering sacrifice to the stove god, sugar is smeared on the mouth of the stove god, hoping that the stove god will have a "sweet mouth" and say more good things. If he says bad things, his mouth will be stuck with sugar.

In addition, a mount must be prepared for the Kitchen God, made of sorghum stalks such as cows and horses. The mount also needs to be equipped with food, so in addition to stove sugar, water, straw, etc. must also be prepared on the offering table.

Then you have to bow to the Kitchen God, make your New Year wishes, and burn paper beside the stove!

After burning incense and kneeling down to worship, the image of the Kitchen God and his mount are burned together, and firecrackers are set off to "see him off". On the Little New Year's Day in Northeast China, the Kitchen God is the protagonist, representing people's hope and longing for the best life.