The folk proverb says: "Twenty-three, sacrifice the stove." According to the old custom, the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month is the day of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god.
According to legend, there was a family named Zhang in ancient times. There were two brothers, one was a plasterer and the other was a painter. My brother's specialty is cooking pots and pans. He was invited by East Street and West Square, and they all praised his cooking. He has been famous for a long time, and calling him "King Zhang Zao" is thousands of miles away. Strangely, Wang said that no matter who built a stove, he liked to interfere in other people's homes if there was any dispute. When he meets a noisy daughter-in-law, he will persuade him. When he meets a fierce mother-in-law, he will say that he seems to be an old elder. In the future, neighbors will look for him if they have anything, and everyone respects him. The king lived seventy years, and when he died, it happened to be late at night on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. After the death of Wang, Zhang Jiake fell into chaos. It turns out that the king is the head of the family and everything in the family is under his command. Now that the eldest brother has passed away, the younger brother can only write poems and draw pictures. Although he spent a lot of time, he never did housework. The daughters-in-law in several rooms clamored for separation, and the painter was stirred helplessly and frowned all day. One day, he finally came up with a good idea On the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, the first anniversary of Wang's death, late at night, the painter suddenly called to wake up the whole family and said that the eldest brother had appeared. He took his son, daughter-in-law and the whole family to the kitchen, only to see the flickering candlelight on the dark kitchen wall showing the appearance of the king and his dead wife, and the whole family was shocked. The painter said, "When I slept, I dreamed that my eldest brother and sister-in-law had become immortals, and the Jade Emperor named him' Nine Days East Chef ordered the chef to be the king of the palace'. You are always lazy and lazy, and your sister-in-law is not harmonious, disrespectful and unfilial, which makes your family uneasy. " Big brother was angry to know that you were going to break up. He is going to tell the Jade Emperor that he will come down on New Year's Eve to punish you. Hearing these words, the children's nephews and daughters-in-law were frightened. They immediately knelt down and kowtowed again and again, and hurriedly brought Wang Pingping's favorite candy to the stove and begged the kitchen king to forgive them. Since then, uncles, brothers and daughters-in-law who often make noise have never dared to make trouble again. The family live in harmony and live in peace. Neighbors knew about it, and the news spread. They all came to Zhang's house and wanted to know the truth. In fact, the kitchen god on the kitchen wall on the 23rd night of the twelfth lunar month was painted by the painter in advance. He came to town to scare his children's nephews and daughters-in-law, but this method really worked. So the neighbor came to the painter to inquire about the situation, so he had to pretend and distribute the painted kitchen god to the neighbors. As a result, it spread along the countryside, and every household's kitchen was labeled as the king of kitchens. Over time, the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month and praying for the safety of the family was formed. After the custom of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god spread, from the Zhou Dynasty, the palace also included it in the sacrificial ceremony, and formulated the rules of offering sacrifices to the kitchen god nationwide, which became a fixed ceremony. The time of offering sacrifices to stoves varies from place to place, with the twelfth lunar month in the north and the twenty-fourth in the south. There is also a folk saying of "three officials, four people and five families", that is, the government held sacrifices on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, while the people on the 24th and the ships on the 25th government held sacrifices.
There are always different opinions on the dates of offering sacrifices to stoves in ancient times, such as the first month, April, May, August and December. In the feudal society of China, various religions coexisted, and the number of gods reached thousands, which was respected by folk customs. Perhaps in order to simplify unity, facilitate memory and operation, the saying that Kitchen God goes to heaven once a month has evolved into going to heaven once a year. And set the time on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month. This day has become a traditional festival for offering sacrifices to stoves.
In Shanxi, most areas offer sacrifices to stoves on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Only a few places, such as Yushe, Wenshui, Licheng and Yangcheng. Twenty-four sacrificial stoves in the twelfth lunar month.