Taoist Culture - Sending Off of Kitchen Deity (臘月廿四送灶神)

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After the Thanksgiving Honouring on the 16th Day of Lunar 12 Month (臘月之答謝神恩), the Chinese or Taoists will concentrate on the 24th Day of Lunar 12 Month (for Year 2010 will be 07 Feb Sunday).

Why is it so Important?

Cos according to Ancient Records, this is the Day that, that our Beloved Kitchen Deity to return to the Celestial Palace for "Annually" Reporting of the Credits & Merits of Mortals to Jade Emperor of Heaven (玉皇大天尊) and other Recording Officer in the Heavenly Realm and so, the Chinese & Taoists will have to prepare some Offerings for Kitchen Deity before Sending-Off.

In the Ancient Era (till about 150 years ago from now), only the Kitchen Deity will be the "targeted Deity" that the Mortals will send off, whereas today, folks also Send Off the Home Deities (which is not an appropriate or accurate practice, this is why, a few of the other dialect groups don't have the practice of Sending Off Deities).

According to some of our other Chinese Custom Records, different Dates for Sending Off of Kitchen Deity are being allocated to different Group of People (according to the ranking, position, reputation, etc).

For Officer Rank and above (in today's term: White Collar Group 皇親國戚), the Sending Off Date for the Kitchen Deity in their Premises was fixed on the 23rd Night before 11.00Pm.

For Rich-man and normal commoners (in today's term: Blue Collar Group 達官貴人/平民百姓), the Sending Off Date for the Kitchen Deity in their Premises was fixed on the 24th Day Morning.

Whereas the "un-reputable" groups, such as robbers, bandits, low-class-workers, etc, the Sending Off Date for the Kitchen Deity in their Premises was fixed on the 25th Day before Dawn (this was not known by much people cos in later part of the History, this was being strike off from the records).

So who will usually lead the Send Off Ceremony?

In the Ancient Era, Only the house owner or a Male-member in the family could do the Sending Off (一家之主/當家).

So, during the Sending Off, what must be prepared?

In order to allow the Kitchen Deity to report Good things about you and the family to Jade Emperor of Heaven, you must prepared sweet stuffs to offer to Kitchen Deity (a form of un-intensionally bribing). Such sweet stuffs can consist of Nian Gao (The Chinese Glutinous Rice Cake 年糕), Sesame Candies, Ji Hong (a type of Traditional Chinese Jelly-like Cake 吉紅), Mandarins, etc.

For some families, they will prepare cooked cuisines such as whole chicken, fishes, seafood, etc, to offer to Kitchen Deity before the Sending Off.

Some will even offer Good-quanlity Wine to Kitchen Deity during the paying respect ceremony – to make him "drunk".

After about 15-30 minutes of offering, the house owner will have to seek permission from the Kitchen Deity by throwing of the Divination Block to see whether the Kitchen Deity is ready to set-off. If the Divination Block shows Yin-Yang sign, meaning that he is ready to travel back to Heaven, if not, Wine or Tea must be offered again till he’s willingly to set-off.

Once the Divination Block shows Yin-Yang sign, the house owner will have to burn off the incense-paper & Song Shen Ma for Kitchen Deity, and the whole Ceremony will consider to be completed.

So what is Song Shen Me (送神馬)?







Song Shen Ma aka Shen Ma (神馬) or Song Shen Jia Ma (送神甲馬) is a type of incense-paper that got picture of a Horse and an Assistant being printed.

During Sending Off, the Song Shen Ma will be used and for Inviting back of Kitchen Deity, Ying Shen Ma (迎神馬 with a Sedan Chair and 4 assistants) will be needed.

In the Ancient Era, folks believed that, when Kitchen Deity returned to the Celestial Palace, he needed to reach the Palace within a certain allocated-timing or so by riding a Horse, Kitchen Deity wouldn’t be delayed (送神快). And while he's returning to the Mortal World, he could sit inside a Sedan Chair to relax and allowed the 4 assistants to slowly-sway the Sedan around till they returned to the Mortal World (a joyous occasion to return to the Mortal World during the New Year period 迎神慢).

Today, due to lack of people giving advises to the usage of such incense-paper, a lot of people tend to use the same type of paper to do the Sending Off and Inviting Back.

So when is the Inviting Back?

According to Ancient Records, there were 2 Dates.

One of the Eve of Lunar New Year (年除夕), Kitchen Deity must be back on the Eve to join in the Celebration of Ushering in the New Year (for Year 2010 will be 13 Feb Saturday).

2nd, on the 4th Day of Lunar New Year (農曆正月初四日). This Day was being added into the custom much later (for Year 2010 will be 17 Feb Wednesday).

So during the Inviting Back, what shall must prepared?

Usually simple offerings like Tea, a Set of Oranges, Incense-paper & Ying Shen Ma are prepared.

The Inviting Back will usually be done in the late noon. Some families will only do that after Sunset.