Traveling through ancient times, I led my family to prosperity

The 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when every household in Shengjiatun goes to heaven to report on the daily life of the family. The Kitchen God is also called the Kitchen God. Everyone has to eat, and every household has a stove. Where there is a stove, there is a Kitchen God. According to the saying passed down from generation to generation by the older generation, the Kitchen God is the family protector sent by the Jade Emperor to the human world, and at the same time monitors the good and evil of the family's daily behavior. At dusk on the day of the Kitchen God farewell, the Kitchen God of each family must go to the Heavenly Court to report on the family's actions in the past year. After listening to the report, the Jade Emperor will determine the good and bad fortune of the family in the next year. Therefore, the report of the Kitchen God is very important to every household, and the Kitchen God farewell ceremony is indispensable for every household.

People eat dumplings on the day of Farewell to Kitchen God. Xiaolan's family made dumplings with pork and cabbage filling. After the dumplings were cooked, the family did not start eating them. Instead, they had to wait until the Farewell to Kitchen God ceremony was over before they could eat.

Sheng Xuan took out a pile of paper to be burned, put it on the ground, and then used a paper chisel to knock the copper coin's mark. Sheng Xuan knocked and moved the paper one by one, and the copper coins were printed on the paper until the whole pile of burning paper was full. Sheng Xuan placed the clip horizontally on the paper, and then pressed it to turn it. After turning it a few times, about half of the upper part of the burning paper basically turned into several spiral circles. This is what will be burned in a while, and it is to prepare money for the Kitchen God to go to heaven.

Sheng Xuan pasted a portrait of the Kitchen God on the north wall of the kitchen. Sheng Xuan had specially gone to the town yesterday to get this portrait. The upper part of the Kitchen God portrait was a portrait of a person, and the lower part was a simple calendar of solar terms. There were couplets on both sides, saying "May God bless you with good things, and keep you safe in the underworld", and the horizontal banner was "He is the head of the family". Sheng Xuan not only bought the Kitchen God portrait, but also bought things to use to bid farewell to the Kitchen God.

There is a table in front of the portrait, which is the offering table. On it are dumplings, fruits, sugar melons, and white wine. Sugar melons are similar to modern maltose, which is sticky and sweet. Its function is to sweeten the mouth of the Kitchen God so that he can only say sweet words when he reports to the Jade Emperor after he goes to heaven. In the middle of the edge of the table, there is an incense burner with three incense sticks lit in it.

Xiaolan's family was quite particular. Shengxuan even made a pony out of straw and blessed it with a needle. He placed wheat bran and chopped grass feed in front of the horse, meaning that after the horse was full, the Kitchen God would ride on it to heaven.

When bidding farewell to the Kitchen God, a string of firecrackers should be set off, offerings should be picked up with chopsticks for the Kitchen God to eat, and wine should be poured into the incense burner, which is a symbolic toast to the Kitchen God. One should also chant, "Zhang Kitchen God, Li Kitchen God, hold the stove with your hands and lean against the wall. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year, I bought some candied melons for you to taste first. After eating the candied melons, you will go to heaven. There is a Lingxiao Palace in heaven. When you see the Jade Emperor, tell him that my family will be peaceful, the grain harvest will be good, the population will be safe, and there will be herds of cattle and horses. Please, Kitchen God, go to heaven and say less gossip and speak more kind words. Eat enough and drink enough. Go early and come back early to celebrate the New Year, and your life will be better year by year." After that, Sheng Xuan and Xiao Wen kowtowed respectfully to the Kitchen God statue, burned the old Kitchen God portrait, the straw pony, and the paper with the copper coin stamp, and pasted the new Kitchen God portrait in its place. After the incense in the incense burner has burned out and you have bowed and worshipped, you can remove the incense burner and the offerings, and the activity of bidding farewell to the Kitchen God is completed.

"Men don't worship the moon, and women don't worship the kitchen god." This is an old saying that has been passed down from ancient times. It means that men should not worship the moon, and women are better off not worshiping the kitchen god. Therefore, Xiaolan's family always takes Xiaowen to participate in activities on the day of the Kitchen God's farewell. In ancient times, women had a low status, and this kind of sacrificial activity was done by men. Women were not qualified to participate. Although Xiaolan sneered at this kind of thing, she finally chose to respect this custom.

After dinner, the children shared the tribute. Xiao Lan picked up a piece of sugar melon and put it in her mouth. After holding it for a while, she found that this kind of sugar was very sticky, hollow inside, with a thin skin. It tasted crispy and sweet, and Xiao Lan liked it very much. Zhang told her that it was made of malt, rice, and yellow rice. Because it was flat and round in shape, it was named sugar melon.

Xiao Lan thinks that the taste of sugar melon is very similar to modern maltose, and modern maltose has a layer of sesame on the outside, which makes it even sweeter. Sugar melon is specially left for children to eat after the Kitchen God is gone, because sugar melon is very sticky, which means to seal the mouths of children who are ignorant and like to talk nonsense at home, because this day is for good luck, and it is not allowed to say unlucky words.

After eating a piece of candy melon each, the children stopped eating. This year was a bad year, and it was a luxury for the children in the village to have a full meal, let alone a piece of candy to sweeten their mouths. Although Xiaolan's family was better off, they didn't buy candy often. The children planned to put the candy melon away and eat it slowly.

The next morning, Xiaolan's family started sweeping the house. As the saying goes, the house should be dusted and swept on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the house can be swept from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, but many people do it on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

This year, Xin and Zhang Shanfeng lived in Xiaolan's house, so they paid more attention to these rituals and rules. Cleaning up the dust and debris at home on this day symbolizes driving away the bad luck and bad luck of the old year and welcoming the good luck and happiness of the new year. "Chen" and "Chen" are homophones, so sweeping the dust is sweeping the old, which symbolizes sweeping out the misfortunes and negative emotions of the old year. This is what Xin told Xiaolan.

Xiaolan felt that house cleaning was actually a big cleaning before the New Year, in preparation for the New Year. The family swept every corner of the house, inside and outside. Xiaolan's family was responsible for the inner courtyard, Zhang Shanfeng, Xin, Zhang Qingfeng, and Fu were responsible for the front yard, and Zhang Qingnian and Liu were responsible for the backyard. After the cleaning, the women were responsible for washing the family's clothes and bedding.

This year, except for the men and Xiao Lan, who each received a rabbit fur coat, no one else made new clothes. Zhang found the cotton coats and trousers she made last year, removed the lining and the outer layer of the clothes, and began to wash them. Compared to other clothes, these clothes were relatively new, and Zhang thought that after washing them, the family would wear them during the New Year.

It is cold in winter and your hands will get frozen if you use well water to wash clothes. Xiaolan and Xiaowen boil water in the kitchen to provide hot water for the whole family.

The women in the house took out the large washing basin, washboard and mallet. After the clothes were soaked, they beat them with the mallet. The moisture in the clothes was pressed and the stains were squeezed out of the clothes. Beating them several times could achieve the purpose of cleaning the clothes.

At that time, people ate less meat, and there was almost no oil stain on clothes, so they could wash clothes clean by beating them with a mallet. This time, Xin sent some soapberries to Zhang. Xiao Lan knew this one, and she had used this thing before when her family was tanning leather.

The crushed soapberry can be used as a detergent, which produces foam and makes the washed clothes cleaner.

Xiao Lan watched Zhang and Xiao Ting beating clothes with a mallet in the yard, and she remembered that she wanted to make soap. Last year was a bad year, so this idea was shelved. Xiao Lan remembered the lard she bought a few days ago, and she planned to make some soap to try.