In ancient China, there was a custom to celebrate the day of the mouse marrying off his daughter. The celebrations would normally take place on the night of the 25th of the first lunar month, when every household would stay in the dark with no lit candles or lights. The whole family would scatter some rice and salt on the floor before quietly sitting at the warmer end of a kang (a heatable brick bed in North China) and eating some special food made of flour in the dark. The reason that they would eat the meal as quietly as possible was that they wanted to provide convenience to the mouse that was marrying off his daughter on that night. Otherwise, the mouse would get offended and bring harm in the rest of the year.