What is the 24th Dust-Sweeping Day? What are the customs and legends of the Dust-Sweeping Day?
Introduction: In our Chinese traditional culture, whenever the Spring Festival is approaching, every household will start to clean their houses, cleaning them very thoroughly inside and out, in order to welcome the arrival of the Lunar New Year. But do you know why we should clean the house before the Spring Festival? Did you know that there are actually set dates for cleaning your house? The 24th is the day we clean the house, also known as "dust sweeping day". Let’s take a look at the detailed analysis below for the specific content! Mr. Shui Mo has carefully sorted out many customs and some precautions about New Year’s Eve. If you want to know more exciting content, please go to Mr. Shui Mo’s New Year’s Eve special topic to see more!Interpretation of the 24th "Dust Sweeping Day"The 24th day of the 12th lunar month is "dust-sweeping day" for every household. According to folk belief, the gods will stop caring about human affairs from this day on and return to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. According to folklore, this is the day when the gods return to heaven, and only a few gods on duty and minor gods such as the landlord are left on earth to keep order. Folks also believe that after the gods go to heaven, they will not return to the world until the fourth night of the following year. So there is a legend that during this time, one can turn over the house without worrying about any details, and one can use this day to move objects or cause dust to fly around without worrying about offending the gods in the home. The ancients designated this day as a day for general cleaning.The correct date for "Sweeping the Dust Day" and "Sending Off the Gods Day" is said to be the 23rd or the 24th. "The Different Meanings of the Five Classics" says that the government worships the Kitchen God on the 23rd, while the common people do so on the 24th. Based on this book which advocates that the government worships the Kitchen God on the 23rd, it also points out that the government chooses the 23rd day, when "yin and yang" interact, to send off the god. Therefore, it actually refers to the boundary time from the 11:00 p.m. on the 23rd to the 12:00 p.m. on the 24th - it is still the 24th. Most of the Chinese in Southeast Asia originated from Fujian and Guangdong provinces and were influenced by local folk customs. Therefore, the Chinese in Southeast Asia generally regard the 24th as the day of "sending off the Kitchen God" and "sweeping the house". Analysis of the Customs of the 24th "Dust Sweeping Day"Every year from the Lunar New Year's Eve (the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month) to New Year's Eve, the Han people call this period of time "Welcoming Spring Day" or "Dust Sweeping Day". Sweeping the dust is the year-end cleaning, which is called "sweeping the house" in the north and "dusting" in the south. Sweeping the house before the Spring Festival is a traditional custom of the Chinese people. Every time the Spring Festival comes, every household has to clean the environment, wash various utensils, take apart and wash bedding and curtains, sweep the courtyard, dust off dust and cobwebs, and dredge open and underground ditches. From north to south, there is an atmosphere of joyfully cleaning up and welcoming the New Year in a clean manner.The Origin of the Custom of the 24th “Dust Sweeping Day”There was an evil god who liked to stir up trouble. He often spread rumors and created trouble in front of Yu Chang, describing the human world as ugly. Over time, in the Jade Emperor's impression, the human world is a world full of sin and filth. Once, the evil god reported that people on earth were cursing the Emperor of Heaven and wanted to rebel against Heaven. The Jade Emperor was furious when he heard this, and he ordered that all acts of rebellion in the lower world be investigated quickly. For any family that was angry with the gods or blasphemed the gods, their crimes would be written under the eaves of their houses, and then spiders would spread their webs to cover them as a mark. The Jade Emperor ordered Wang Lingguan to go down to the mortal world on New Year's Eve. Whenever he came across a door with a mark on it, he would kill all the people in that door without leaving a single one alive. Seeing that his conspiracy had succeeded, the evil god secretly went to the underworld and marked the eaves of every household so that Wang Lingguan could kill them all. The evil god's conspiracy was discovered by the Kitchen God, so he hurriedly summoned the Kitchen Gods of each household to discuss countermeasures. The plan was: from the day of sending off the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, to the day of welcoming the Kitchen God on New Year's Eve, every household must do a thorough house cleaning. If a household does not clean thoroughly, the Kitchen God will not enter the house. People follow the instructions of the Kitchen God, sweeping away dust, dusting off cobwebs, wiping doors and windows, and cleaning their homes inside and outside, in front of and behind the houses, and around the courtyard. On New Year's Eve, Wang Lingguan came to the human world and found that every household had clean windows and bright lights, and families were happily reunited and living a happy and fulfilling life. Wang Lingguan could not find any sign of bad behavior, so he hurried back to heaven and reported to the Jade Emperor truthfully about the peaceful and happy situation on earth and their wishes for a prosperous new year. The Jade Emperor then realized that he had been deceived by the evil god and was furious. An imperial decree was issued to capture the evil god, slap him in the face three hundred times, and detain him in heaven forever, not allowing him to do evil in the lower world. From then on, in order to ward off disasters and misfortunes, people had to sweep the house and remove dust during the period of sending off the Kitchen God on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month and welcoming the Kitchen God on New Year's Eve. Over time, it gradually became a Han folk custom. Summary: After reading this article, we know that the 24th is the day we clean our house, and there is also a very strange myth about the origin of “Dust Sweeping Day”. You can learn about it and feel the charm of our Chinese culture! |
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