Culture Fact: Xiaonian(1/1)

In the Chinese lunar calendar, the 23rd or 24th of the 12th month are the Kitchen God Festival days, also known as “Minor New Year”, or Xiaonian.

According to Chinese folk beliefs, on this day, families will undertake a thorough house cleaning, sweeping out the old in preparation for the New Year.

Another distinctive tradition is burning of a paper image of the Kitchen God, dispatching the god's spirit to Heaven to report on the family's conduct over the past year. Most of the offerings to the Kitchen God are sweets of various varieties, as it is thought that this will seal the Kitchen God's mouth and encourage him to only say good things.