Chinese Little New Year
Chinese Little New Year (Xiaonian), also called Little Year and known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, is an important traditional festival for Chinese people. It is a festival to pray to the Kitchen God for blessings and marks the beginning to do preparation for the Spring Festival.
When Is the Chinese Little New Year 2023?
The Little New Year is usually observed a week before the Chinese New Year. The date of the Chinese Little Year is determined by the Chinese lunar calendar. It varies in different regions: the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month in northern China and the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month in most parts of southern China. The date of the Little Year changes every year on the Gregorian calendar but is always somewhere in the period from January 10th to February 10th.
The Little Year in 2023 falls on Saturday, January 14th on the Gregorian calendar in northern China and on Sunday, January 15th in southern China.
Why Is Little New Year Celebrated?
The Little Year is a festival to pray to the Kitchen God for blessings for the New Year as well as a farewell ritual to the Kitchen God.
Legend has it that the Kitchen God is sent down to each household by the Jade Emperor to watch the behavior of the family members, then reports all he observed to the Jade Emperor (the Supreme Deity of Taoism) at the end of the year. According to this report, the Jade Emperor will decide how much good luck the family gets for the new year.
It is on the Little New Year's day that the Kitchen God reports to the Jade Emperor. Therefore, each household offers sacrifices to the Kitchen God so he would bring back good luck for the new year.
Traditional Activities for Little New Year
The main Chinese Little New Year traditional activities include:
1. Offering Sacrifices to the Kitchen God
One of the most important traditions in the Little New Year is to honor the Kitchen God.
In Chinese culture, the Kitchen God is the protector of the family from evil spirits. Many Chinese households have a paper image of the Kitchen God hung in the house. Since the Kitchen God reports the family's activities back to the Jade Emperor on the Little New Year's day, sacrifices are made to him in hopes of saying good things about the family.
After the sacrifice, the paper image of the Kitchen God will be burned, and it is believed that he will go back to heaven with the smoke. On the fourth day of the first lunar month on the Chinese lunar calendar, the household will put up a new picture of the Kitchen God, indicating that the Kitchen God has returned to the family.
2. Cleaning the Houses
On Little New Year's day, Chinese people carry out a thorough cleaning of the house.
The arrival of the Little New Year means that the Spring Festival is not far away. Chinese people would clean the house on this day to welcome the Lunar New Year. This is a long-held tradition called "sweeping away the dust", which symbolizes sweeping away bad luck and a farewell to the old year.
3. Pasting Paper Cuts to the Window
The Little New Year is also celebrated in preparation for the Spring Festival, and paper-cutting is one of the most popular folk activities.
Chinese paper-cutting is a traditional part of Chinese culture, as well as one of the oldest folk arts in China, which dates back more than two thousand years ago. On the day of the Little New Year, Chinese people would glue up paper cuttings on windows to show happiness and celebrate festivals. The paper cuttings are usually made of red paper, as red symbolizes prosperity and good fortune in Chinese culture.
4. Eating Zaotang Candy
Zaotang, also known as "candy for the Kitchen God", is a kind of traditional sticky candy made of maltose. Zaotang is used as a sacrifice to the Kitchen to sweeten his words to the Jade Emperor.
In different places in China, the Zaotang has different shapes. The Zaotang in Shanghai and Jiangsu province is in the shape of an ingot. Besides, Zantang can be made into various shapes such as calabash, chicken, duck, etc.
