Celebrating Little New Year: Busy Preparations

When a family makes offerings to the Kitchen God, it is in the hopes that he will ask Heaven to protect their household. According to an old maxim, "In Heaven good deeds are reported, on Earth safety is ensured." The new image of the Kitchen God is not pasted up until Lunar New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, in a ceremony known as "welcoming back the Kitchen God." According to a saying from southern China, "On the twenty-fourth day he ascends to Heaven; on New Year's Day he returns to Earth."