Sacrificial furnace has a long history in China folk custom. It is a great leap of civilization that human beings invented fire food by eating raw meat and drinking blood, and this advanced animal, human beings, began to be different from ordinary animals. At that time, people burned piles of open flames at home for heating and lighting, barbecue food, making pottery and defending wild animals. This kind of fire is the original "stove". The worship of the kitchen god began here, and it was recorded in the Book of Rites as early as: "Wang surnamed Li." Kitchen God is one of them.
Kitchen God is also called Kitchen God, Kitchen King, Kitchen God and Kitchen God Bodhisattva. Its gender, name and various ancient books have different opinions. Some say it's Shennong, some say it's "the Yellow Emperor cooked to death as a kitchen god", some say it's auspicious, some say it's a list, some say it's "the kitchen god wears red clothes and looks like a beautiful woman", and some say it's an old woman ... This probably belongs to the myth maker's "a hundred schools of thought contend".
The kitchen god's duty was originally to eat on the earth. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, some Taoist books claimed that this god had the mission of monitoring good and evil on behalf of heaven and had the power to give people good and evil. It is said that "the stove is a god, named Siming." The life in our family is good and cheap, and there is nothing hidden. I have heard everything ... In the dark, the whites are guilty, and the big ones seize the discipline (reducing life by 300 days) and the small ones count (reducing life by three days). "
There are also many changes in the days of offering sacrifices to stoves. In the past, people often offered sacrifices to stoves, including June 4th,14th and 24th, Xia Meng (April) and midsummer (May), August 3rd, Zhao Jun's birthday, and December 8th. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, most areas were scheduled to offer sacrifices on the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, commonly known as "sending the gods". In ancient times, people attached great importance to offering sacrifices to stoves. There is a folk proverb that says, "It is better to make an altar than to thank the stoves three times."
When I was a child, many people's kitchens were equipped with kitchen gods. Those who were not equipped with a kitchen god were replaced by red paper, which read "The kitchen god is in charge of life", and a pair of couplets were posted on both sides, which read "Heaven says good, and it is auspicious to come down to earth." Because people think that Kitchen God will report the good and evil on earth to Cao Tian, some people think that this is a god who reports to his superiors. They are dissatisfied with this, but they feel that they can't afford to hide, so they are in awe. When offering sacrifices to the stove, it is necessary to "bribe and please" and avoid punishment. Therefore, in addition to providing many golden dishes, delicious food and fruits, you also specially provide a tower-shaped "sugar tower" to facilitate the kitchen god to ascend to heaven. A lot of maltose was also offered, and a "conspiracy" was set up to stick the kitchen god's mouth so that he could not speak, or to make the kitchen god slur when he spoke, so that the jade emperor could not hear clearly those words that were unfavorable to people. Especially those who have done a bad thing, enjoy it.
It is said that the old generation of chefs practiced favoritism and malpractice, always reported good news to the Jade Emperor, failed to uphold justice for the working people, and was opposed by the masses. Gu's Local Records recorded the opera performance of "Fighting the Chef". The kitchen god of the old generation was unpopular, so the people invited a gentleman named Zhang Mingren from the working people to be the kitchen god. This legend reflects the attitude of ordinary people towards right and wrong.
On the 23rd or 24th of the twelfth lunar month, it is called "sending the gods" to worship the stove ruler, and on the fourth day of the first month, it is called "receiving the gods", which is another kind of worship.
Nowadays, the grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to stoves is rare, but some people still have the habit of "sending gods". Watching the New Year's Eve dinner around the stove is also related to the custom of offering sacrifices to the stove.