Kitchen God
| Kitchen God | |||||||||||||||||
Zao Jun
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 灶君 | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | stove master | ||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | stove god, stove spirit | ||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Táo Quân | ||||||||||||||||
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zào Jūn |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Jou Gwān |
| Jyutping | Zou3 Gwan1 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | Chàu-kun or Chàu-kun-kong (灶君公) |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zào Shén |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Jou Sàhn |
| Jyutping | Zou3 San4 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | Chàu-sîn |
In Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology and Taoism; the Kitchen God also known as the Stove God, named Zao Jun, Zao Shen, or Zhang Lang, is the most important of a plethora of Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. The Kitchen God is celebrated in Vietnamese and Korean culture as well.
It is believed that on the twenty third day of the twelfth lunar month, just before Chinese New Year he returns to Heaven to report the activities of every household over the past year to the Jade Emperor (Yu Huang). The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heavens, either rewards or punishes a family based on Zao Jun's yearly report.
Though there are many stories on how Zao Jun became the Kitchen god, the most popular dates back to around the 2nd Century BC. Zao Jun was originally a mortal man living on earth whose name was Zhang Lang. He eventually became married to a virtuous woman, but ended up falling in love with a younger woman. He left his wife to be with this younger woman and, as punishment for this adulterous act, the heavens afflicted him with ill-fortune. He became blind, and his young lover abandoned him, leaving him to resort to begging to support himself. Once, while begging for alms, he happened across the house of his former wife. Being blind, he did not recognize her. Despite his shoddy treatment of her, she took pity on him and invited him in. She cooked him a fabulous meal and tended to him lovingly; he then related his story to her. As he shared his story, Zhang Lang became overwhelmed with self-pity and the pain of his error and began to weep. Upon hearing him apologize, Zhang's former wife told him to open his eyes and his vision was restored. Recognizing the wife he had abandoned, Zhang felt such shame that he threw himself into the kitchen hearth, not realizing that it was lit. His former wife attempted to save him, but all she managed to salvage was one of his legs.
The devoted woman then created a shrine to her former husband above the fireplace, which began Zao Jun's association with the stove in Chinese homes. To this day, a fire poker is sometimes referred to as "Zhang Lang's Leg".
Alternatively, there is another tale where Zao Jun was a man so poor he was forced to sell his wife. Years later he unwittingly became a servant in the house of her new husband. Taking pity on him she baked him some cakes into which she had hidden money, but he failed to notice this and sold the cakes for a pittance. When he realized what he had done he took his own life in despair. In both stories Heaven takes pity on Zhang Lang's tragic story. Instead of becoming a vampirish hopping corpse, the usual fate of suicides, he was made the god of the Kitchen, and was reunited with his wife.
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Wikipedia