There is a custom in Zhangzhou on the night of "Tail Teeth". Every business owner who employs shop assistants and clerks should prepare a sumptuous dinner for all employees. During the dinner, the boss took various forms to express his position on employee changes in the coming year. If an incompetent person wants to be dismissed, he will aim a plate of chicken at the employee's seat at the banquet, that is, dismiss; Or for the guy who wants to be fired, he will put the chopsticks upside down in front of the seat to give up; Another is that the boss personally toasts the guy who will be fired to say goodbye. These quiet dismissal customs are embarrassing and have caused many quarrels and scolding. Later, it was gradually abolished and changed to convey the meaning of dismissal through an introducer.
To "send the gods", that is, "send the gods", is to send the "chef" to heaven. According to the Book of Rites, the stove was listed as one of the seven major sacrifices in the sacrificial ceremony, and was offered by Emperor Tiandi and Shu Ren. "The Complete Collection of Respect for Stove" said: "The King of Stove is under the command of the East Chef, protected by a family of incense, observing the good and evil of a family and playing the merits and demerits of a family." According to this ancient custom, Zhangzhou people put a new "Kitchen God" engraved with red paper on the kitchen stove on the day of giving gifts to the gods, with the words "Commanding the Kitchen King" across it, an idol in the middle and a pair of couplets on both sides: "Heaven performs good deeds, and the earth is safe". Three sacrifices, peanut candy, sesame candy, raw flowers and other candy as sacrifices. This is another superstitious activity that people follow ancient customs.
In the activities of offering sacrifices to gods, there are two traditions in Zhangzhou: one is "three officials and four people", that is, the official sent the gods to heaven on1February 23, and the ordinary people held it on1February 24. The reason seems to be that many officials are evil, so they should ask the chef to say more good things while playing in advance. This is called "the wicked complain first"; Second, "Men don't Yue Bai, women don't worship the kitchen", and the kitchen sacrifice must be done by men to show the feudal ethics that men are superior to women.
Do "tail teeth" on the sixteenth day of the twelfth lunar month.
According to the old custom, the first tooth was made on the second day of the second lunar month. Ordinary businessmen, fishermen and land and sea transporters have the custom of making teeth on the second and sixteenth day of each month, and they are called "tail teeth" until the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar, which corresponds to the "first teeth" on the second day of February.
As the saying goes, "Mr. Weiya, send God for many years". This means that on the day of "Weiya", private schools in the village will be closed, students will no longer have classes, and teachers will go home for the New Year.
On the day of "Tail Teeth", there is generally a custom of offering sacrifices to landlords and janitors, while shops in urban and rural areas should honor landlords with generous gifts, burn incense and light candles, and pray for prosperous business in the coming year, and then burn gold paper money and set off firecrackers.
After nightfall, the club held a banquet for these guys to reward them for their hard work over the past year. Everyone is seated one after another, and the rich dishes have already been set. But at this point, all the guys, facing the sumptuous banquet, are not happy, but they are all on pins and needles and nervous. Everyone stared at the hip flask mentioned by the club with their eyes wide open. Who should pour this glass of wine for tonight? I saw a smile on the owner's face, raised the hip flask and walked slowly towards it. Pour the wine slowly. At this time, the man suddenly became dejected and despondent, and some looked back and forth, while his eyes were dripping with the wine from his master's pot. Other men also cast sympathetic and pitying eyes. It turned out that the host poured the first glass of wine for him, which meant that he would not be hired next year. Because I am sometimes embarrassed, I made this rule, so in the past, although the owner hosted a banquet to entertain the waiter every year, because of this rule, I didn't want to taste the food no matter how good it was. After the first glass of wine was poured, the people who were dismissed were heartbroken. Although the other waiters were relieved, they were still hurt by something. Maybe it's their turn to drink this wine next year, so they never want to taste the delicious food on the table. So, there is a saying.
Later, shopkeepers also thought it would spoil everyone's fun, which was a bit disappointing. In order to avoid losing the waiter's interest at the beginning of the banquet, they later switched to the Golden Rooster House, serving food at the end of the banquet, and the head of the family personally took over and put it on the table. Who is the head of a chicken? That means he won't be hired again next year.
It's disappointing to play such a trick at the banquet, and then it will be indicated in the year-end red envelope and written directly on the paper of the red envelope. For some reason, I will ask for another job next year.
The custom of making tail teeth has been continued, separated from the dismissal of employees, and everyone enjoys drinking and having fun with the host and guest. As for dismissing employees, the state has state ownership and the private has private methods. Entrepreneurs can dismiss employees, and employees can also "jump ship", which is very free and completely decoupled from the tail teeth.