New Year Picture - Kitchen God

The Kitchen God oversees people's diets and serves as an official dispatched by the Jade Emperor, the king of gods in Taoism, to inspect the moral conduct of each household in the human world.

At the end of each year, the Kitchen God reports to the Jade Emperor regarding the family's merits and demerits over the past year. Consequently, people offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God before the Spring Festival and bid farewell to him. In addition to burning incense during these rituals, people also apply honey to the mouth of the Kitchen God in the portrait, hoping to influence a more favourable report, akin to a form of bribe.

The central figure at the top of this New Year picture is the Kitchen God, accompanied by two goddesses on the left and right. One records the family's good deeds, while the other records the bad deeds. The God of Wealth and other deities gather at the bottom of the picture, symbolising the hope for the family's prosperity and blessings from the gods in the coming year.

This New Year picture is meticulously printed on antique rice paper at Fu Shun New Year Picture Shop in Yangjiabu, Shandong Province.

Please note that the New Year pictures are not framed.