The custom of sweeping dust originated in the Yao and Shun era and evolved from an ancient religious ceremony to drive away epidemics. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, "Sweeping the Year" prevailed. According to the Song Dynasty poet Wu's Record of Dreams and Beasts, "At the end of December, all ordinary people, big or small, will sweep the floor, clean their homes and pray for a safe New Year". Up to now, the proverb "Twenty-four days of the twelfth lunar month, sweeping the house with dust" is popular in China.
There is also a folk legend in China that the custom of sweeping dust comes from the tenant farmers in Tongzhou (now Nantong) who welcome the Jade Emperor's annual grain. Previously, the tenant farmers here were busy all the year round, except for paying food and rent. They prayed that the Kitchen God would say something nice when he wrote a letter on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, so that the Jade Emperor could be merciful and allocate some gifts from the Tiancang so that they could have a sumptuous reunion dinner before New Year's Eve.
In order to welcome the gift of the Jade Emperor, the tenant farmers have to clean the house inside and outside every year before the 28th of the twelfth lunar month, so as to welcome the blessed annual grain. In this way, year after year, the national custom of sweeping dust in the Spring Festival has been passed down from generation to generation.
Dust-sweeping custom
In China, cleaning is an important part of welcoming the New Year, and one of the traditional folk customs in China originated from a religious ceremony of the ancient people in China to drive away the epidemic. This ceremony later evolved into a year-end cleaning. An China folk proverb says, "On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, clean the house." .
Through cleaning, people expressed the idea of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new. While cleaning, some families will throw away some old things, such as clothes and shoes, and buy more things, which also means to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new. Its original intention is to sweep away all "bad luck" and "bad luck", and to pin on the good wishes of the Chinese nation to ward off evil spirits and eliminate disasters and welcome good luck. On this day, every household should clean up, dust off cobwebs, clean all kinds of electrical appliances, remove and wash bedding curtains and sweep six yards.