Xianyou has a birthday celebration custom that is different from other places. This is the year when the old person turns "ten" (starting from fifty), no matter which month or day he was born, he will celebrate his birthday (wishing him a birthday). The festival is usually held on the third day of the first lunar month of that year, and its origin is said to be related to the fairy dream of Jiuli Lake.

It is said that the mother of a scholar suddenly lost her sight due to illness. The scholar was a famous filial son. In order to cure his mother's eye disease, he gave up going to Beijing to take the exam and sought medical treatment everywhere. After years of searching, it just doesn’t work. I heard people say that the fairy dream in Jiuli Lake is very efficacious, so I went to Jiuli Lake to pray for eye medicine. That night, the scholar dreamed of the Immortal Duke and said: "People come into the mountains to find white water, and the cure lies behind the temple."

The next day, the scholar woke up and carefully interpreted the meaning of the Immortal Duke's words in the dream. Then he went to the back of the temple to look for medicine. He saw a spring behind the temple with clear and transparent water. Many people came here to get water. I heard from others that this is a fairy spring that can cure many diseases, and no matter how dry the weather is, it will never dry up.

The scholar was overjoyed when he heard this. It turned out that when he heard the word "immortal spring", he immediately thought of the words "people come into the mountains to find white water" said by the immortal in his dream last night. "People entering the mountain" should be the word "immortal", "white water" is the word "spring", and the combination of the two characters is "immortal spring". What he prayed for was eye medicine, and the Immortal God directed him to look for it behind the temple. Apparently the fairy spring was the eye medicine, so he was overjoyed. He immediately filled a bottle and hurried home.

The scholar returned home on the third day of the first lunar month. His mother had just turned seventy this year. p>In the first month of the year, the whole village went to his house to congratulate him. Today I heard that the scholar brought back the fairy spring from far away Jiuli Lake to treat his mother's eyes. Everyone in the village came to the scholar's house

One to congratulate him and the other to see the fairy spring.

Unexpectedly, the scholar used spring water to wash his mother's eyes, but it didn't heal. Just when everyone was anxious, they heard someone say from outside the door, "I'm here to congratulate you." When everyone saw it, it turned out to be an old doctor in the village. He heard that Xiucai had retrieved the fairy spring, and came in while talking.

When the old doctor saw the scholar wiping his mother's eyes directly with spring water, he quickly said: "No, no!" After saying that, he ordered an empty bowl to be brought out, and the He poured the bag of flour he brought into the bowl, then poured the spring water into it and stirred it into a wet dough. He put it on the old lady's eyes and then ordered her to drink the spring water as tea.

After a few hours, the old lady’s eyes were healed as expected, and everyone couldn’t help but cheer for the magical fairy spring.

Just now, when the scholar heard the old doctor say "Congratulations to Chi", he couldn't help but feel stunned. Now that his mother's eyesight has recovered, he remembered another story that the Fairy told him in his dream.

One sentence: "The cure lies in the (chi) queen's (congratulations)." It turns out that Xiangong's sentence has a double meaning. The first sentence means to guide him to find the location of the fairy spring, and the second sentence means to guide him to find the location of the fairy spring.

It means that the cure for the mother's eye disease should come from the "belated congratulations" to the old doctor.

The scholar thanked the Jiuli Lake Fairy for his advice on eye medicine, and also thanked the old doctor for his good eye treatment, which cured his mother's eyes. So, he solemnly gave a heavy gift to the old doctor. At that time, the most expensive gift in the village was pig's feet. Because the old doctor brought flour when he came to congratulate him, and the scholar sent pig's feet in return, so people used the phrase "sending noodles in return of pig's feet" to express courtesy, which has been passed down for a long time. , formed a common saying in Xianyou.

The scholar thanked the villagers for coming early to congratulate him because he was concerned about his mother's eye disease, so he wanted to stay with the villagers for dinner at noon. How could everyone agree?

The scholar suddenly had an idea and said: "My mother's seventieth birthday is in March. Today, in order to celebrate her recovery from vision, I specially put the birthday together." As a celebration of double happiness, how about a simple meal to celebrate your birthday?" The scholar proposed a proper gift, but everyone was disappointed. >

I couldn't refuse, so out of kindness, I agreed to stay and have birthday wine together.

After a lively birthday party, the scholar felt that just as he had given a gift to the old doctor, he should also give gifts to his fellow villagers. It just so happened that there was a bumper harvest of citrus this year.

My mountain tangerine garden harvested several large baskets. Therefore, when the guests were leaving, they each gave them a pair of oranges as a sign of good luck. From then on, when Xianyou people celebrated their birthdays, no matter which month the birthday fell, they would always celebrate their birthdays on the third day of the first lunar month of that year, and those celebrating their birthdays would bring flour (later changed to dried noodles) for their birthdays< /p>

As a gift, the host who celebrated his birthday would also send oranges back as a sign of good luck. This became a local custom that continues to this day.