Also called Zao Jun, Zao Shen, Stove God, Ông Táo, Little New Year offering
Before Chinese New Year, families send the Kitchen God back to Heaven to report on the household, first smearing honey or malt candy on his lips so his report will be sweet, then burning his paper image.
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Take care: Burn the paper image outside in a fireproof bowl away from anything flammable, and keep water nearby. Honey and candy draw ants; clean up afterward.
In Vietnam three kitchen gods, the Táo Quân, leave on the 23rd of the last lunar month riding a carp to Heaven. Families make offerings and release live carp into lakes and rivers to carry them, then welcome them back on Lunar New Year's Eve.
Zao Jun's wife is said to write down everything said in the house over the year for his report. The Jade Emperor then rewards or punishes the family accordingly, so the sweetening is both bribe and good-humored family joke.
In Korean household religion the hearth goddess Jowangsin, honored mainly by the women of the house, is represented by a bowl of fresh water set at the kitchen hearth. Offerings to her ask for safety from fire and blessings on the family's food.
Zao Jun, the Stove God, is the most important of the Chinese household gods. The most popular story of how a mortal man named Zhang Lang became the Kitchen God is said to date to around the 2nd century BC. Every household traditionally kept his paper image and that of his wife above the kitchen stove, the heart of the home, where they watched the family's conduct. He is less a god of cooking than a moral observer who reports to the Jade Emperor once a year.
The send-off falls on the 23rd or 24th of the last lunar month, often called Little New Year, and begins the New Year season. Sticky malt candy and honey were the sweeteners of choice, and firecrackers were set off as the image burned. The custom survives in Chinese households and in Taiwan, and neighbors have similar rites: Vietnam's Ông Táo rides a carp to Heaven, and Korea has its own hearth goddess.
Written charms on red or yellow paper, or on peach wood, pasted at the door or carried, to keep harmful spirits out of a home in Chinese tradition.
A small jar of honey, sugar or syrup holding a written name, worked with candles over days or weeks so that a person or situation turns sweet toward you. In Hoodoo it is used for love and also for bosses, judges and family peace.
A Hoodoo-style sweetening for patching things up with family or friends who are also open to it. A small paper with your shared wish rests in a sugar bowl that everyone uses, so each spoonful softens things a little.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
