Today is the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, a traditional "off-year" in China.
"Twenty-three, candied melons stick", with the coming of the Lunar New Year, the pace of the Lunar New Year is getting closer and closer.
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader stressed: "The Spring Festival is a beautiful moment to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, which will always bring people new expectations." The Spring Festival is not an isolated festival, but a festival group that integrates folk customs such as getting rid of old cloth and making new ones, and worshipping gods and ancestors. From the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, there are different traditional Spring Festival customs almost every day.
The old customs bear profound historical and cultural connotations and reflect people’s deep feelings and sense of identity with Chinese excellent traditional culture. Many traditional customs originated from the actual needs of ancient society. With the changes of society, they gradually surpassed the practicality and became the symbol of our nation’s common memory and cultural heritage, which is a vivid portrayal of the enduring and handed down from generation to generation of Chinese civilization. In addition, the annual custom activities in different places have their own characteristics, which bring together the cultural essence of all parts of the country and also show the inclusive characteristics of traditional culture.
Off-year is also called "Lunar New Year Festival" in ancient times, which means before and after beginning of spring, at the turn of Lunar New Year Festival. Off-year is usually regarded as the beginning of a busy year, which means that people begin to prepare new year’s goods, sweep dust, offer sacrifices to stoves, etc., and prepare for a clean and good year.
The written record about the off-year was first seen in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cui Mao’s "Four People’s Month Order" contained: "La will be updated tomorrow, which means that it is a young age, and it is respected by the wine, and it is a teacher." In fact, the origin of off-year can be traced back to the Xia Dynasty, which originated in honor of a great god respected by the people. Later, in the pre-Qin period, a god was set up in the kitchen, and drinks, fruits and food were used as sacrifices.
It is worth mentioning that the holiday date of off-year is different in the north and the south, with the 23rd off-year of the twelfth lunar month in the north and the 24th off-year of the twelfth lunar month in the south. The different dates of off-year between the north and the south are related to the tradition of "three officials, three people, four boats and five people" in ancient China [i], that is, the official family celebrated off-year on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and the people celebrated off-year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Because the north is close to the capital and is greatly influenced by bureaucracy, the off-year is changed to the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, while the south still maintains the original tradition of celebrating off-year on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, the off-year in the north is one day earlier than in the south.
Offering sacrifices to stoves is the most important activity on off-year day, so off-year is also called "Festival of offering sacrifices to stoves" and "Kitchen God Festival". Sacrificial stoves have been in China for thousands of years. The belief in Kitchen God is a reflection of Chinese people’s dream of "having enough food and clothing". According to legend, the Kitchen God is an official who is arranged by the Jade Emperor to manage various kitchen fires on earth. On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, he reports to the Jade Emperor about the good and evil of this family in a year, and then rewards and punishments are implemented according to the Jade Emperor’s will. People are afraid that the kitchen god will talk nonsense after going to heaven, so they offer sacrifices to the kitchen stove on the off-year day and send sweet offerings such as candy and rice cakes. I hope he will be sweeter and say some nice words to make people’s lives easier in the coming year [ii]. Therefore, there is also the custom of eating stove candy on this day of off-year, which is very sticky, so it is also called "gum candy", commonly known as "Guandong candy" in Beijing, and "sugar ingot" in Shanghai and Jiangsu.
Besides offering sacrifices to stoves, there are other customs in off-year life. For example, in the off-year in the north, families get together to eat jiaozi, which means to see the Kitchen God off and to "see off the windward side of jiaozi". In the south, families get together to eat rice cakes, which means that people’s work and life are improved year by year. Of course, there are customs such as cutting window grilles and bathing.
As the prelude to the Spring Festival, off-year has always maintained its unique charm and significance, which contains profound cultural significance. These colorful folk activities express people’s good wishes to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. At the same time, the differences in dates and customs between the north and the south also reveal the inclusiveness and diversity of China culture.
Poster: Wang Jinhong and Wang Yiting (internship)
Copywriter: Wang Ruoxin and Huang Sijin (internship)
[i] traditional customs [J]. Health and wellness of traditional Chinese medicine, 2016, (Z1): 11-20.
[ii] Wang Jijin. Prosperous China Year — — Endless old customs [J]. Jiangxi Education, 2023 (04): 6-9.