North:

1, jiaozi: In the north, jiaozi is usually eaten on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month, because the Kitchen God will be sent to heaven to report his work on this day. People cooked jiaozi and put it on the altar, which means "seeing jiaozi off in the wind".

2. Sticky cakes: In some areas of Shandong, sticky cakes are steamed and eaten on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. Sticky cake is a kind of sweet cake, which is made of yellow rice and red dates. It is intended to stick the mouth of the kitchen god and let him only say good things when reporting to the jade emperor.

3. Sesame candy: Eat sesame candy on New Year's Eve in northwest Shanxi. The sesame candy in Datong, Shanxi Province is boiled with high-quality millet, then mixed with ground millet flour, fermented and solidified by a special process, and made into various shapes of candy, including jade bone sesame candy, crisp sesame candy, stuffed sesame candy, melon egg candy, plate candy and so on. No matter what kind of sesame candy it is, it must stick to the mouth of the kitchen god so as not to report the delicious and luxurious things on earth to the sky.

4. Kwantung Sugar: Kwantung Sugar, also known as Chef King Sugar, can be eaten all year round. Kwantung sugar is a kind of sugar product with special flavor made from malt and millet. Guandong sugar is fragrant, crisp and sticky, and is mainly used for offering sacrifices to stoves. When offering sacrifices to the kitchen stove, you should use torches to melt the candy, and put it on the mouth of the kitchen god, so that he can't speak ill of the Jade Emperor.

5, honeydew melon: "Twenty-three, honeydew melon stick", this folk song should be heard by many people. Melon is similar to kwantung sugar, but kwantung sugar is long and flat, which is honeydew melon. It tastes crisp, sweet and sticky.

6. Fried corn: There is a custom of eating fried corn on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in southeastern Shanxi. People use maltose to stick the fried corn together and freeze it into pieces, which tastes crisp, sweet and crisp.

7. Noodle flowers: On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people in Shandong Peninsula are busy steaming jujube steamed bread, reunion cakes, peaches and other pasta, also called noodle flowers.

8. Fire: jiaozi is not eaten on New Year's Eve in Luohe, Pingdingshan and other places in Henan, but every household cooks their own fire. Sesame cake is also called sesame cake, which is almost equal to off-year The locals say that a small year without burning is not a complete small year.

South:

1, New Year Cake: During the off-year period, generally, the north pays attention to wrapping jiaozi, while the south is more accustomed to making New Year Cake. The shape of jiaozi is like a "gold ingot" and the sound of rice cakes is like a "rice cake", which is a good sign of good luck. Every year in the south, it is a day for every family to steam and eat rice cakes, which means to stick the mouth of the kitchen god and let him talk about the good things in the sky and not the bad things in the world. In addition, Hainan people use coconuts as ingredients to make coconut cakes for eating and praying, which means "high every year".

2, rice cakes: Guangxi Wuxuan, Guiping and other places have the custom of making rice cakes. The rice cake is made of glutinous rice flour as the main material, peanuts, sesame seeds and sugar as the ingredients, put into a mold to make it round, and then steamed at high temperature, with a unique flavor and the meaning of "round and round".

3. Nianzongzi: Nanning people have the custom of eating Nianzongzi in the coming year. Zongzi is a symbol of good luck in the New Year. As the saying goes, "Nianzongzi is the year of high school (Zongzi)". The New Year's Zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival is different from Liang Zongzi. It has stuffing, big and small, long and short, round and flat. After peeling off the leaves, the skin is glutinous rice, and the stuffing is mung bean and pork. Some people use their favorite food as stuffing.

4. Killing pigs: Landong of Lianhua in Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County, Xinhe of Xiling and Shuian Shanzhai of Guanyin all have the custom of killing pigs in the New Year. After the Lunar New Year's Eve, the lively pig-killing drama will be staged. Pick out the best meat, stir-fry or stew it, cook it carefully, then serve a glass of wine and invite friends and relatives to eat the first fresh meat after the pig is slaughtered.

5. Tangyuan: Southerners should eat Tangyuan in winter solstice, off-year, New Year and Lantern Festival, and the varieties are complete and diverse.

6. Eleocharis tuberosa: Sugarcane and Eleocharis tuberosa are essential for the old Fuzhou sacrificial stove, which means "sweet". Water chestnut is a homonym in Fuzhou dialect, which means "good luck lasts from the beginning of the year to the end of the year".

7. Twenty-four groups: "Eating jiaozi for 24 hours" is a custom in many places in the south of the Yangtze River, which means family reunion. In Suzhou, it is necessary to pack jiaozi, send jiaozi and eat jiaozi every year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. The most important sacrifice on the cooking stove of Suzhou people is jiaozi, formerly called "Twenty-four Regiments". "Twenty-four Tuans" are made of glutinous rice flour, and the fillings are fresh meat, bean paste, shredded radish and so on. There are marks on steamed dumplings, which are round, square and petal-shaped to distinguish different fillings.

Due to different local customs, its date is also different:

South:

Most parts of the south: the 24th of the twelfth lunar month.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangxi regions: The day when the kitchen god is sacrificed on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is called "kitchen sacrifice", and the day before New Year's Eve is called "Lunar New Year's Eve", as opposed to "Lunar New Year's Day". Here, "Lunar New Year's Eve" and "Lunar New Year's Eve" refer to the whole day, not necessarily the evening, and there is no so-called "Lunar New Year".

Taiwan Province Province: The day before New Year's Eve.

Nanjing area: the fifteenth day of the first month, that is, the Lantern Festival (Lantern Festival)

In some areas, there is a custom of sending the kitchen god on the 22nd of the twelfth lunar month, which has also become a small year in this area.

North:

Most parts of northern China: the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month.