The greedy and shameless Kitchen God （漫谈春节）

 

The greedy and shameless Kitchen God

 

The festival to worship the Stove Lord is the beginning and foreshadowing of the entire Spring Festival celebration. There are two main activities: sweeping the New Year and worshiping the Stove. In addition, there is also the custom of eating stove sweets. In some places, they also eat fire roasting, sugar cakes, oil cakes, and drink tofu soup.

Sweeping the New Year, that is, sweeping the dust, is actually a big effort to clean the home environment. Northerners regard the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month as the off-year, which is called "sweeping the house"; southerners regard the 24th of the twelfth lunar month as the off-year, which is called "dusting off". On this day, every household gets up at dawn to sweep the house, clean the windows, wash the clothes, scrub the pots and pans, and carry out a clean and thorough general cleaning. According to "Shi Yi Ji", this custom can be traced back to more than 3,000 years ago. After the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, both adults and children have to take a bath and have their hair cut. There is a folk saying that "if you have money but don't have money, you can shave your head to celebrate the New Year".

But what the Chinese people attach the most importance to is the stove worship activity.

On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, people respectfully sent the Stove Lord back to heaven to report on his work. Now it is time to invite him back. The legendary Kitchen God is also known as Kitchen King, Kitchen King, Kitchen Lord, East Chef Siming, and later became Kitchen God, Kitchen Mother, etc., but they are all the gods of food and drink in ancient Chinese myths and legends. After the Jin Dynasty, he was listed as the god of orders who supervises the good and evil in the world.

Since humans abandoned eating hair and drinking blood and invented fire-eating, with the development of social production, stoves have gradually become closely related to human life. Worshiping the Kitchen God has become an important part of many god worship activities. Therefore, in the "Book of Rites·Sacrifice", "the king set up seven sacrifices for the group's surname", that is, one sacrifice was called "zao", and the common people established another sacrifice, "either to establish a household or to set up a stove."

In ancient China, there were activities to worship the Kitchen God. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Kitchen God had a name. Du Taiqing's "Jade Candle Book" of the Sui Dynasty cited the "Book of Stoves" and said, "The Stove God's surname is Su, his first name is Ji Li, and his female name is Bojia." The full title of the Kitchen God is "East Kitchen Si Ming Jiuling Yuan Wang Dingfu Shen Jun", commonly known as "Zao Jun", or "Zao Jun Gong", "Si Ming Zhenjun", "Nine Heavens East Kitchen Smoke Master", "House Protector Tianzun" ” or “Kitchen King”, the north calls him “Kitchen King”, and Luanmen worships him as one of the three benefactors, that is, the god of the kitchen.

The origin of the Kitchen God is very early. In the Shang Dynasty, people began to worship it, and in the Zhou rites, Li, the son of Yusuo, was regarded as the Kitchen God.

Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was even listed as one of the main five sacrifices. The five gods, the Kitchen God, the Door God, the Well God, the Toilet God and the Zhongliu God, were jointly responsible for the safety of the family.

The reason why the Kitchen God is respected is that in addition to being in charge of people's diet and providing convenience in life, the Kitchen God's duty is to be an official sent by the Jade Emperor to the human world to inspect the good and evil of a family. The Kitchen God is accompanied by two gods, one holding a "good jar" and the other an "evil jar". He keeps records of the family's behavior in the jars at any time, and reports them to the Jade Emperor after summarizing them at the end of the year.

After the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report mortal affairs to the Jade Emperor, he will return to the mortal world to take care of "government affairs." In traditional Chinese folk customs, the days when the Kitchen God returns to earth are not consistent. In some places, the Kitchen God is sent back to heaven on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, and then welcomed back to earth on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month. But most places welcome the Kitchen God on the fourth day of the first lunar month. Although the days to welcome the Kitchen God are different, the place to welcome the Kitchen God is always the same. Three animals and other objects are placed in the shrine on the second floor of the house to worship the Kitchen God again, hoping that he can bless the family and safety in the new year. .

December 24th is the day when the Kitchen God leaves the world and God reports to the Jade Emperor what the family has done in the past year, so every household must "send gifts to the Kitchen God".

The period of giving up the stove is also divided into different classes. As for when to give up the stove, the people have the so-called "official three", "min four" and "Deng family five". "official" refers to the officials, gentry and powerful people, who are accustomed to giving up the stove on the 23rd year of the year. "Min" refers to ordinary people who will give up their lives on the 24th of the year. "Deng Family" refers to the family on the water, and the meeting is held on the 25th of the year. However, most people among the people will choose to thank the stove on the 23rd of the year, hoping to be noble, and choose what they want.

The Chinese people worship the Kitchen God, which can also be regarded as the traditional Chinese "Bribery Day".

When bribers give offerings to the Kitchen God, they usually use sweet and sticky things such as sugar melons, glutinous rice balls, maltose, pig blood cakes, etc. In short, the purpose of using these sticky and sweet things is to stuff the Kitchen God's mouth and make him Say more good things when you return to heaven. As the saying goes, "eat sweet things and say good things", "send good words to heaven and throw away bad words."

In addition, in order to stick the Kitchen God's mouth to make it difficult for him to say bad things. Some people also use wine dregs to smear the Kitchen God and call it "Drunk Siming", which means to make the Kitchen God drunk and make him dizzy and confused, so that he will make fewer reports. Therefore, worshiping the Kitchen God symbolizes praying for blessings and avoiding disasters.

When offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, the briber also has a bribery ceremony: arrange the offerings, burn incense and worship, then drink wine for the first time. At this time, he should sincerely pray to the Kitchen God, and then drink wine for the second time. After drinking for the third time, the old statue of the Kitchen God is torn off and burned together with the armor, horse and money and silk, which means sending the Kitchen God to heaven, and the ceremony is successfully completed.

A horse made of paper tied with bamboo strips is burned as a mount for the Kitchen God to go to heaven. Some soybeans and hay are also prepared as dry food and fodder for the Kitchen God and the horse to travel long distances.

In addition, you must burn incense, kowtow, grab a few handfuls of straw ashes in the stove pit, spread them flatly on the ground in front of the stove, and murmur words such as: "God has said good things, and you will be safe when you return to the palace." The purpose is to pray to the Stove King to give you peace. The emperor will report all the good deeds done by this family in the past year, and don't say bad things.

What is interesting is that when bribes are given to the Kitchen God, in some places there are still several beggars who dress up and go from house to house singing songs and dancing to the Kitchen God, called "Sending the Kitchen God", in exchange for food.

Due to different customs in different places, there are also folk activities such as "Dancing the Stove King" and "beating the Stove King". "Tiao Zao Wang" is a folk activity developed from the ancient "Driving Nuo". It is mainly an activity of beggars. From the 1st to the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, it is the day of "Tiao Zao Wang". After entering the twelfth lunar month, beggars gather in groups, pretending to be the kitchen god and the kitchen lady, holding bamboo branches and making noise in the courtyard, begging for money. They are called "jumping the kitchen king", which also means to ward off evil spirits. This activity is mainly carried out in the southeast of China.

The custom of giving away stoves is very common in the north and south of China. Mr. Lu Xun once wrote the poem "The Gengzi Sending Stoves":

 

A chicken is made of gum and candies, and a piece of clothing is used to offer incense.

If there is nothing growing in the house, there are only a few yellow sheep.

 

He said in the article "Send the Stove Day Essay": "On the day when the Stove Lord ascended to heaven, a kind of candy was sold on the street, the size of an orange. We also have this kind of candy, but it is flat, like a thick candy. Small pancakes. That's the so-called 'glue-tooth cake'. The original intention is to invite the Kitchen Lord to eat it, to stick his teeth so that he can't imitate his tongue and say bad things to the Jade Emperor."

The allusion of "Yellow Sheep" in Lu Xun's poems comes from "Book of the Later Han Dynasty* Yin Shi Zhuan": "During the reign of Emperor Xuan, those in Yin Zi Fang were extremely filial and benevolent. In the early morning of the twelfth lunar month, when the Kitchen God appeared, Zifang worshiped again. To celebrate the celebration, there was a yellow sheep in the family, so I sacrificed it. Since then, I have become extremely rich. In the third generation, I have prospered, so I often recommend the yellow sheep to the stove during the twelfth lunar month." Yinzi Fang saw it. The Kitchen God, sacrificed yellow sheep, and later gained good luck. From then on, the custom of killing yellow sheep to offer sacrifices to the stove has been passed down.

After sending away the God of the Kitchen God, don’t forget to bring back the Gods on the fourth day of the first lunar month (some say New Year’s Eve). This is called “receiving the Kitchen God” or “receiving the God”, which is also called welcoming the God of the Kitchen.

As the old saying goes, "It's early to send God off and late to receive God." Therefore, sending God off should be early in the morning, but receiving God around four o'clock in the afternoon. In the past, every household would prepare fruits and vegetables as gifts, burn incense, burn gold paper, and set off firecrackers to express their welcome.

It is said that during the period from the 24th of the twelfth lunar month to the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the heaven sent other gods to patrol the lower realm, monitor everything, and then report to the gods. There is also a legend in the north: The Zao Prince wants to check the household registration on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, so it is not advisable to leave home. Therefore, many places also have the custom of tabooing the door on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. But nephews can visit their aunts. "Kiss from aunt to uncle, from generation to generation, breaking bones and connecting tendons, regardless of each other's family." My aunt has a status in the family, which is a characteristic of northern folk customs.

The sacrifice to the stove on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is closely related to the Chinese New Year. Because, on the eve of the New Year’s Eve a week later, the Kitchen God came to the world together with other gods with the good and bad luck that the family should receive. The Kitchen God is believed to lead the way for the gods in the sky. While other gods ascend to heaven again after the New Year, only the Kitchen God will stay in people's kitchens for a long time.

Therefore, the ceremony to welcome the gods is called "receiving the gods", and for the Kitchen God, it should be called "receiving the stove". The ceremony of taking over the stove is usually on New Year's Eve, and the ceremony is much simpler. At that time, you only need to put on a new stove lamp and burn incense in front of the stove niche.

According to general local customs, the reception of the Stove Lord is hosted by the male host, and the female family members do not participate. This is because there is an ancient saying that "men do not worship the moon and women do not worship the stove."

No matter how colorful China's stove worship activities are, it is essentially the most shameless act of bribery. It can be openly and normalized among the people. If you understand the Stove Lord, you can also understand the darkest side of Chinese traditional culture.