Before the Qing Dynasty, most places offered sacrifices to stoves on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. For example, according to the local customs of Jin and Zhou Dynasties, "On the 24th night of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen god was sacrificed to the stove, which means that he went to heaven the next day and was one year old, so he sacrificed to the stove for one day first". Another example is Fan Chengda's poem "Sacrificing a Kitchen", which records "the legend of the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the owner of the kitchen expresses his ambition to heaven", and Yu Qian's "Twenty-four Nights of the twelfth lunar month" in the Ming Dynasty.
In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, the sacrificial furnace was always the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. And at least until the Qianlong period, it was a sacrifice on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Jia Qinglu, Volume XII, Reading for Four Nights in December, records that "it is customary to say that the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is reading for four nights, that is, sending meals at night". From the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the royal family held a ceremony to worship heaven on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. In order to "save money", the kitchen god was also enshrined. Therefore, in the northern region, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, a stove is sacrificed.
Origin of the festival
The written records about off-year were first seen in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cui Ai's "Four-person Moon Order" in the Eastern Han Dynasty records that "La will be updated tomorrow, which means that she is young, respected by wine and a teacher." Regarding the sacrifice of stoves in the off-year period, there is a literary work handed down from generation to generation in the local customs records of Jin and Zhou Dynasties, which means that the kitchen god went to heaven the next day and was one year old, so he sacrificed the stove for one day first.
In Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda's Ci of Sacrificing a Kitchen said: "According to legend, on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, the kitchen owner spoke to the sky. It is also recorded that there are clouds, cars and horses hanging around, and there are cups and plates at home. Off-year is also a time for family reunion. The firecrackers at the family banquet are similar to the activities of the Chinese New Year, but they don't go out to celebrate. In ancient times, off-year was also called "Lunar New Year", which meant a festival around the beginning of spring and at the turn of the Lunar New Year.