May Kitchen God give a good report

Little New Year (Chinese: Xiaonian), usually a week before the lunar New Year, falls on Feb 2 this year. It is also known as the Festival of the Kitchen God, the deity who oversees the moral character of each household.

Here are six things you should know about the Little New Year, another sign of the start of spring.

Offer sacrifices to Kitchen God

In one of the most distinctive traditions of the Little New Year is the 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. The Kitchen God is then welcomed back to the home through the pasting of a new paper image of him beside the stove. From this vantage point, the Kitchen God will oversee and protect the household for another year.

The offerings to the Kitchen God include pig's head, fish, sweet bean paste, melons, fruit, boiled dumplings, barley sugar, and Guandong candy.