From ancient times to the present, every folk household will worship the god vesta. "Stove" is very important in every family, he is related to the family's food and clothing, so people will worship the god of Vesta at home, hoping to let the god of Vesta bless the family to be able to eat and wear warmth.
There is a folk custom that every year during the waxing moon, the king of the stove will return to the heavenly court to report the good and evil of the whole family to the heavenly emperor, and will bring down the rewards and punishments of the heavens during the first month. Therefore, in order to allow the stove king to say a few words for his family, people will sacrifice the stove king on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, and offer candy and food.
There is a folk saying that "officials three people four", which means that the official family will sacrifice the stove king on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, and the folk people will sacrifice the stove king on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon.
Now, many people in the north will sacrifice the stove king on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, while people in some places in the south will sacrifice the stove king on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon.
There is a folk proverb that says, "On the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, the family sacrifices the stove official", and some folk people say "twenty-three eat sugar melons and paste the mouth of the king of the stove".
So, will the King of The Stove go to heaven on the twenty-third day of the Waxing Moon? Or will it go to heaven on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon?
There is a folk saying that "sending God should be early, and receiving God should be late" is said.
The reason why I say this is because the old ancestor believes that when the immortals return to the heavenly court from the human world to report for duty, they also need to hurry. Therefore, when they return to the heavenly court, they will leave early, so people will also sacrifice early.
When receiving The Gods, it is the same, the road between the human world and the heavenly court is far away, and when they come to the human world, they will walk for a long time, so when they pick up, it is naturally a little late.
It is precisely in this way that people will send the stove king on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, and people in some places will send the stove king on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon.
In fact, there is another reason, that is, in ancient times, people actually sacrificed the king of the stove on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon. In the Qing Dynasty, when the imperial family was sacrificing, it would sacrifice the stove prince in advance on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, and at that time, the folk still sacrificed the stove prince on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon.
Therefore, the people have the saying of "three officials and four people".
Later, the custom of the Qing Dynasty royal family on the 23rd day of the Waxing Moon was well known. Folk people mistakenly think that the twenty-third sacrifice of the waxing moon is to allow the king of the stove to go to heaven earlier and help himself to say good things. At the same time, because the emperors of the people are all sacrificing stoves on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon, then there must be their reason, so they blindly follow the trend.
With the passage of time, this custom of the northern sacrifice on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon has been passed down.
It can be seen from this that since ancient times, the King of Stove has been the twenty-fourth heaven of the waxing moon.
The custom of the twenty-three sacrifice stoves, on the one hand, is because the ancestors said that "sending the gods should be early", so the god of vesta must go twenty-four, then there must be many people who send the god of stoves twenty-four, and sending one gift early in twenty-three can also express their sincerity.
On the other hand, as mentioned before, it is because of the saying "officials three people and four people", the people, in order to follow the trend, also sacrifice stoves on the twenty-third day of the waxing moon.
However, whether the folk are the 23rd festival stove of the Waxing Moon or the 24th festival of the Waxing Moon. In fact, everyone's customs are the same, they must smear honey on the mouth of the stove king, eat sugar melon, and use sugar to stick to the mouth of the stove king. Let him "say good things to heaven", and when the king returns in the first month, he can send down auspiciousness.