春節習俗：大年初四 迎接灶王爺

時間：2016-01-20 17:40:10 來源：乖乖網 點擊量：2820

Today is the 4th day of the 1st month in Lunar Calendar. According to folklore, it is a god-send-off day on the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, and it is also a god welcoming day on the 4th day of the Chinese New Year.

今天是大年初四。遵循習俗，農歷12月23日是送神日，而在大年初四，則被認為是一個請神的好日子。

The Kitchen God (灶王爺，zao wang ye, or 灶神 zao shen) is said to report his work to the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝, yu huang da di) commenting on human good and evil, until the 4th day of New Year to return back to the earth.

據說，灶王爺要將過去一年人類的善與惡匯報給玉皇大帝，直到大年初四才會重返人間。

Chinese folk saying goes: “Send-off early, welcome late” (送神早，接神遲. song shen zao, jie shen chi) so that the Kitchen God need to be sent off in the morning, while to welcome at about four o’clock in the afternoon.

中國俗語說：“送神早，接神遲。”，所以在清晨需要送走灶王爺，而在下午四點左右迎接灶王爺。

In the north area of China a legend also said that, on this day, Kitchen God would be down checking the household, therefore, it should be not away from home, and there is also a similar custom which forbids closing doors in case the god not able to get in.

在中國北方有一個傳說，在這一天，灶王爺會降臨，檢查家家戶戶，因此在這一天不應離家在外，同樣也有一個習俗說，這一天不要關門，以防灶王爺無法進入家宅之中。