What are the customs of Xiaonian? You must know these customs

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month every year is the traditional festival of "Little New Year". Whether in the south or the north, people will start preparing New Year's goods and get ready for the Chinese New Year. So what other customs are there during the Little New Year? Let’s take a look below.

What are the customs of Xiaonian?

Eating sugar melons during the worship of the kitchen god

"On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, Kitchen God goes to heaven with a piece of candy in his mouth. He doesn't need to speak a word in front of the Jade Emperor. He comes back to our home to celebrate the New Year, with rice, noodles and clothes to wear." This is a folk song, which is about worshiping the Kitchen God and expresses the yearning for a better life.

In the past, people would offer sugar melons to the Kitchen God during the Kitchen God worship ceremony. Sugar melon is a kind of sugar made from maltose, which is very sweet. People also hoped that after eating it, the Kitchen God would have a sweeter mouth and would say more good things when reporting to the Jade Emperor. But after all, the Kitchen God is not a human being, so he cannot actually eat candy, and the candy melon finally falls into the child's mouth.

Paste the Kitchen God's portrait

Offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God is actually the most important activity on the day of the Little New Year. In addition to offering sugar melons and cakes, people also have to change the portrait of the Kitchen God. While taking down the old image of the Kitchen God, every household also has to "invite" back a new one.

Sweep the dust

Sweeping dust actually means cleaning the household environment. People in the north call it "sweeping the house"; people in the south call it "dusting". Traditionally, every household gets up at dawn on this day to sweep the house, clean the windows, wash clothes, scrub the pots and pans, and carry out a thorough cleaning. According to "Shiyi Ji", this custom can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago. At that time, it was a religious ceremony to drive away plague ghosts and pray for health. The latter word "chen" is homophonic with "chen", so sweeping the dust means sweeping away all the old things, which refers to both the old dirt in the courtyard and the unpleasantness encountered in the old year.

Cutting paper-cuts

Cutting and pasting window paper-cuts is the most popular folk activity. The contents include various stories about animals and plants, such as magpies climbing on plum trees, swallows flying through peach and willow trees, peacocks playing with peonies, lions rolling embroidered balls, three sheep (yang) bringing good luck, two dragons playing with pearls, deer, cranes, tung trees and toon trees (six harmonies in spring), five bats (blessings) holding longevity, rhinoceros looking at the moon, lotus (continuous) years with fish (yu), mandarin ducks playing in the water, Liu Hai playing with golden cicadas, the two immortals of harmony and unity, etc. Pasting window decorations means that the new year will be better and better.

Bathing Wedding

On the day of Little New Year, both adults and children have to bathe and have a haircut. There is a saying among the people that "Whether you have money or not, you should get a haircut during the New Year." After the 23rd, people believe that the gods have gone to heaven and there are no taboos. There is no need to choose a date to marry a wife or a daughter, which is called a hasty marriage. There are a lot of wedding ceremonies held until the end of the year. There is a saying in the folk song, "At the end of the year, villages are busy with weddings, and Yichun’s invitations are sent to celebrate the spring. Sisters whisper to each other in front of the lamp, and this year’s staying up late is the bridal chamber."