Buzz
1. Regularly change incense ashes
Many families believe in the need to clean the incense bowl from the 23rd to the 29th of the twelfth lunar month. This is also the time when the Kitchen Gods are away, so homeowners can clean the incense bowl and altar to please the Kitchen Gods and seek blessings for warmth, harmony, and smoothness throughout the year.
However, this belief is mistaken. Since the incense bowl is placed on the altar, which is a sacred place, it should be cleaned regularly and not just on festival days. However, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, when bidding farewell to the Kitchen Gods, homeowners should clean more thoroughly than usual.
Homeowners should also note that when cleaning the altar, the incense bowl should be thoroughly cleaned and then lit to ask for permission from the ancestors.
Those who change the incense ashes should be wise individuals, such as ritual masters. In fact, any member of the family can change the incense ashes as long as they wash their hands and feet cleanly and are sincere. Especially if homeowners change the incense ashes themselves, it will be the best thing to do.
