Since the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperor's family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save money", they also pay homage to the kitchen god, so most northern regions celebrate the off-year holiday on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Traditionally, the day of offering sacrifices to stoves is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In most parts of the south, the ancient tradition of celebrating the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is still maintained.
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Legend:
Legend has it that the Kitchen God is the God sent by the Jade Emperor to every household to supervise people's good and evil. At the end of each year, he will return to the Heavenly Palace to report the people's feelings to the Jade Emperor, so that the Jade Emperor can reward and punish him. Therefore, when sending stoves, people put candy, water, beans and grass on the console table in front of the kitchen god statue; Among them, the last three are the mounts of the kitchen god ascending to heaven.
The commonly used kitchen god couplets often say, "God speaks well and goes back to the palace for good luck." And "God speaks well and keeps peace in the next world." Something like that. Therefore, there is a saying that "I will go on the 23rd and come on the 1st day of junior high school15th". At the booth selling New Year pictures at the end of the year, the image of Kitchen God was also sold, so that it could be posted in the ceremony of "taking over the kitchen".
The kitchen god in the image is a beautiful boy with fine features, so there is a saying in northern China that "men don't Yue Bai, women don't sacrifice to the kitchen" to show that men and women don't give and receive. In some places, there is no such thing as a joint sacrifice between Kitchen God and Grandma Kitchen King.