Celebrate Chinese New Year with element14!
Day Six: Zao Jun
Nimen hao! We're now sprinting toward the Year of the Monkey, and it's time to start preparing for all the visitors and feasting! And who better to help out than Zao Jun, the Kitchen God?
But first, it's the Year of the Monkey, so in order to win our time-limited badge, all you need to do is stop by to read and comment on each of our New Year blogs. The badge will only be available to earn until February 23, after which you'll have to wait 12 years before it comes up again (given the cycle of the Chinese zodiac).
What's Cooking in Your Kitchen?
Zao Jun is an interesting chap. He's the God of the Kitchen, which sounds quite passive in most respects. But he actually has something of a sinister, authoritarian remit.
During the Chinese New Year celebrations, people burn paper effigies of Zao Jun, but not to punish him. It whisks him away to the nether realm so he can report on you and your family to the Jade Emperor (who runs heaven) about all your good deeds and transgressions. A kind of naughty and nice list, if you like.
One method of encouraging Zao Jun to give a more favourable report is by offering up sweet foods, like candy and confectionery. But maybe there are other options, like coming up with some awesomely clever electronics project for the kitchen. What can you think of that'd help out with those culinary tasks, or revolutionise your kitchen experience? Tell us, and therefore Zao Jun, all about it!
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