Meng Yan's Transformation

In the village of Aobao Fourth Team, every household treated each other to a pig-killing banquet which lasted for several days. There was wine to drink and meat to eat every day. The villagers were all smiling and the festive atmosphere was getting stronger and stronger!

In a blink of an eye, it is almost the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the New Year's Eve, and the Kitchen God will ascend to heaven.

There was no sugar at home, so Yunqing washed and cut the big beets into pieces, boiled them in a pot over a slow fire, ground out the residue and continued to boil until the pot was full of bubbling syrup. Little Mengyan and her sisters and brothers gathered around the pot, smelling the sweet smell and drooling, excited. After Yunqing boiled the syrup, she fried sunflower seeds, peanuts, and nuts and mixed them together. After cooling, she cut them into pieces and put a piece in each child's mouth. It was crispy and sweet, and it was really sweet! The remaining syrup was put in a basin, and Yunqing planned to make candied haws for the children on the night of the 30th.

Yunqing found a paintbrush and paints and painted dozens of pictures of the Kitchen God and his wife. Zifeng kept one for himself, and Zian distributed one to each household in the village. He also brought some homemade candies.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, when the sky was just getting light and the sky in the east was gradually turning pale, Yunqing cleaned the stove and kitchen utensils in the kitchen, and "invited" down the portraits of Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess that had been pasted in the niche on the stove for a year. She also placed the tablets of Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess enshrined in the niche above the stove on the table, put an incense burner on it, lit three incense sticks, prepared some homemade stove candies, melons and other offerings, and placed a "horse" made of sorghum straw next to it, and a dish of "fodder" in front of the "horse" for the Kitchen God to ride on when he set off. At night, Zhan Yu and his brothers knelt down in turn and worshiped again and again. Then they took down the portrait of Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess, placed the "horse" and "fodder" at the stove door and lit them up, calling on the Kitchen God to ascend to heaven. They also chanted auspicious words such as "May God say good things and keep the world safe", praying for good weather and a good harvest in the coming year. People will never forget the contributions of the Kitchen God and Kitchen Goddess.

The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month is also known as "Little New Year", the day when people worship the kitchen god.

Legend has it that in ancient times, there was an old couple with only one son. They loved their son as if he were their precious pearl. However, due to poverty and the old age of the couple, they had no way to make a living, so they had to reluctantly let their son go to the coal mine to dig coal. The son had been gone for a long time and the old couple missed him very much. One day, the old woman asked the old man to go to the coal mine to find his son and see what his son was like. On the way, the old man met a fellow traveler named Barefoot. The two became more and more familiar with each other and got along well. During the chat, the old man learned that the Barefoot was sent by the King of Hell to come to the mine to take back a hundred miners. The old man was anxious and begged the Barefoot to leave his son. The Barefoot agreed generously and told the old man not to tell anyone else. The old man found his son at the mine and pretended to be sick. His son served him and could not go down the mine. Soon, a mining accident occurred in the coal mine and many people died. The old man hurriedly took his son home. Three years passed in a flash. On the night of the 22nd day of the twelfth lunar month, the old man recalled the risk he had taken that year and was still terrified. He could not help but tell his wife about it. Who knew that the Kitchen God, who was worshipped by his family, heard this. On the night of the 23rd day, the Kitchen God went to heaven and told the Jade Emperor about this incident. The Jade Emperor was furious and immediately punished the barefoot man and took the life of the old man's son. For this reason, every 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people worship the Kitchen God and eat kitchen candy, hoping that the Kitchen God will not gossip after he arrives in heaven. Over time, people worship the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month. It is said that every 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Kitchen God will go to heaven to report the good and evil deeds of the family for the year, so that the Jade Emperor can reward or punish them. Therefore, when sending off the Kitchen God, people offer candy, water, beans, and hay on the table in front of the Kitchen God statue. The last three are for the Kitchen God's mount to ascend to heaven. When offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God, sugar must be melted into sugar water with fire and smeared on the Kitchen God's mouth. In this way, he will not say bad things to the Jade Emperor. There is a folk custom that "men do not worship the moon and women do not worship the Kitchen God", so the Kitchen God is limited to men. In addition, on the night of New Year's Eve, the Kitchen God will come to the human world with other gods to celebrate the New Year. On that day, there must be a ceremony of "welcoming the Kitchen God" and "welcoming the gods". After every household burns sedan chairs and pours three cups of wine, they can worship their ancestors.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the first round of firecrackers of the New Year is set off in Aobao Village. The preparations for the Kitchen God worship and the grand Kitchen God worship ceremony gradually begin amid the deafening sound of firecrackers. The Kitchen God worshiper kneels in front of the Kitchen God statue, holding a big rooster. Some people also let the child hold the rooster and kneel behind the adult. It is said that the rooster is the horse that the Kitchen God rides to ascend to heaven, so the rooster is also called a rooster, and the rooster is called a horse. If it is a red rooster, it is commonly called a "red horse", and a white rooster is called a "white horse". After burning incense, the house is filled with smoke, full of mysterious colors. The male host pours wine and kowtows, mumbling something in his mouth. After the recitation, the Kitchen God worshiper shouts "Ling"! Then he pours wine on the chicken's head. If the chicken plops, it means that the Kitchen God has accepted it. If the chicken's head does not move at all, it means that the Kitchen God does not accept it and needs to be poured again. After the Kitchen God worship is over, people begin to eat Kitchen God candy and other foods for the Kitchen God worship.

The ritual of worshipping the Kitchen God at Aunt Zhang's home is the most grand and complicated, and takes the longest time. After the simple ritual of worshipping the Kitchen God at home is finished, little Mengyan and her sister Yingying will run to Aunt Zhang's home to watch the ritual. After the ritual, Aunt Zhang will give Mengyan and her sister the candy and rice cakes used in the ritual. The candy used in Aunt Zhang's family is a kind of maltose that sticks to the mouth and teeth.

Aunt Zhang told Xiao Mengyan the reason for offering sugar to the Kitchen God: it was to stick the Kitchen God's mouth shut. Children eat Kitchen God sugar so that they don't talk nonsense at home or outside, let alone tell lies. They should be taught to be good children who can talk, speak sweetly and behave well from a young age...

Legend has it that the Kitchen God is a god sent by the Jade Emperor to supervise good and evil on earth. He has the responsibility of communicating with the heavens and the earth, connecting the heavens and the earth, and transmitting information between the fairyland and the mortal world. When the Kitchen God goes to heaven, people offer him kitchen sugar, hoping that he will say good things to the Jade Emperor after eating sweets. Some people also say that the use of kitchen sugar in offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God is not to seal the mouth of the Kitchen God, but to seal the mouth of the Kitchen God's wife, who is greedy for good things and loves to gossip.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, people in the Aobao Fourth Team believe that if they prepare food for the Kitchen God at home and participate in the Kitchen God worship ceremony, they will receive the protection of the Kitchen God and their families will be safe and healthy in the coming year!