Around the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in the north? December 24 in the south? Why not on the same day? I believe many friends are interested in this topic, because it is also very hot on the Internet recently, so since everyone wants to know about the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month in the north? December 24 in the south? Why not on the same day? Bian Xiao collected some information about off-year in the north and off-year in the south from the Internet. Share it with everyone!

Southeast Network Trainee Reporter Xie Xi

"Twenty-three, the honeydew melon is sticky, and the kitchen owner wants to go to heaven." As soon as the new year comes, the new year is not far away. With a bite of honeydew melon and a steaming bowl of jiaozi, people began to prepare for the Spring Festival.

However, the date of the New Year is not consistent in different places. Generally speaking, the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is a small year in the north, and the 24th of the twelfth lunar month is a small year in the south. According to experts, this is related to many factors such as regional differences of folk culture.

When will your family spend their holiday?

Off-year VS furnace festival

When it comes to off-year, we have to say another name, "Festival of Sacrificing Cooks".

Sacrificing a stove is an ancient custom. In the past, almost every household had a kitchen god in the kitchen. People call him "Kitchen God". In legend, he is regarded as the patron saint of the family and worshipped.

It is said that the folk sacrificial furnace originated from the ancient custom of worshipping fire. Shi Ming mentioned: "The kitchen. Make it, create food. " The kitchen god's duty is to control the kitchen fire and manage the diet. Later, it was expanded to investigate human good and evil to reduce good and evil.

In the Ming Dynasty, Yu Qian wrote in "Twenty-four Nights of the twelfth lunar month": "Golden stoves and silver candles give birth to spring at night, and firecrackers make the climate new. Laugh at yourself and follow the customs in middle age, buy shredded paper and worship the kitchen god. " In fact, offering sacrifices to the kitchen places people's desire to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters and welcome good luck.

According to legend, Zhao Jun has long been a respected great god. The Analects of Confucius said, "It is better to be charming than beautiful." In the pre-Qin period, the sacrificial furnace was one of the "Five Sacrifices".

"Sacrificing a stove is a long-standing ceremony, but the festival of sacrificing a stove or a small festival has become a part of the custom of the Spring Festival, which should be after the Han Dynasty." Wang Juan, an expert in folklore, explained that due to various reasons such as calendar, before the Han Dynasty, the time of many festivals was not uniform.

She explained that during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, people combined the lunar calendar with the solar calendar and adopted a more scientific calendar. The date of the Lunar New Year was fixed, that is, the first day of the first month.

Sacrificing stoves is also a traditional folk custom. One of the signs of the beginning of the new year is that when the kitchen god is sent to heaven during the off-year holiday, people enter a relatively relaxed period and are busy preparing for the New Year.

"To put it simply, the date of the Chinese New Year has been determined, and the day of offering sacrifices to the stove and the next year has also been determined, which has become a symbolic starting point." Wang Juan said that from this perspective, it is not accurate to say that Laba is a symbol of the beginning of the New Year in China.

Why are the dates of off-year inconsistent?

As a prelude to the Spring Festival, off-year is usually regarded as the beginning of a busy year, and every household is happy to prepare new year's goods and clean the house. But in fact, the dates of off-year holidays vary from place to place. Netizens are no less controversial about it than "salty and sweet zongzi".

In ancient times, there was a saying that "officials, three people, four boats and five boats", which meant that the official's off-year was the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the people's home was the 24th of the twelfth lunar month and the houseboat was the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.

Zhou Chu, a celebrity in the Jin Dynasty, wrote a chronicle of local customs and habits, which mentioned: "On the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god sacrificed to heaven the next day, and at the age of one, he sacrificed to heaven first."

It is said that the traditional off-year is the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the emperors worshipped the Kitchen God on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month one day in advance, and people in the northern region followed suit, and they also celebrated the New Year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month one day in advance.

Later, with the passage of time, the northern region gradually took the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month as the off-year year, while the southern region mostly took the 24th of the twelfth lunar month as the off-year year.

On the day of off-year holiday, Wang Juan basically accepted the saying of "three officials, three people and four people". "Generally speaking, it is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in the south, but this is not absolute due to the floating population and other reasons."

In her view, when the ancient royal calendar was revised, the time of important festivals was generally stipulated. The different holiday dates of off-year may be related to many factors, such as the regional differences in calendars and customs implemented in different dynasties in ancient times, and it is inevitable that the dates will not be unified.

The inconsistency of off-year dates also shows the richness and diversity of traditional folk culture in China. Wang Juan believes that no matter which day it is, it is a sign that people distinguish the stages of celebration and look forward to a better future.

More and more strong flavor of the year

When the New Year comes, no matter in the countryside or in the city, the red lanterns on the street and the dazzling array of new year's goods make the flavor of the New Year stronger and stronger.

Eating is indispensable on holidays. "Melon" is a special food in the early years, generally made of yellow rice and malt. The long maltose made in this way is called "Guandong sugar" and the flat maltose is called "honeydew melon".

In winter, when the weather is cold, honeydew melons can solidify very firmly. There will be some tiny bubbles in the candied melon, which tastes crisp and sweet and has a special flavor.

"Melons are very sticky, and they used to be called' glue teeth', which is more common in northern customs." Wang Juan remembers that for many elderly people, in the past, there was a lack of material, and the honeydew melon eaten as a child was a kind of extravagant food.

The sweetness of the new year is hidden in a small melon, but it is more than that.

Some sources said, "In the off-year, rice is sweet." Popcorn candy is a special food in Jing 'an, Jiangxi. On New Year's Day, local people will make popcorn candy with maltose and popcorn, which means that there will be great wealth and a happy life in the new year.

In some places, sticky cakes are steamed and eaten on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, which means "high every year". In Fuzhou, sugarcane is an essential food for offering sacrifices to stoves. Taking its meaning of "increasing day by day", we will make a good start for the new year.

"Twenty-three melon sticks, twenty-four house sweeps", a Chinese New Year ballad that has been handed down to this day, also sings people's most simple and simple wishes: peace and joy in the new year, and life as sweet as honey.