During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates often harassed the coastal areas of Fujian. Burning, killing, looting, looting, all kinds of evil deeds, the people suffered deeply. According to "Fujian Historical Draft" (written by Zhu), "A.D. 1562 was the year when Jiajing 4 1 captured Xinghua Fucheng." Legend has it that it was New Year's Eve, and every family "gathered around the stove" to have a reunion dinner. The enemy landed from Huian Huibei and robbed, burned and killed along the way. And sprinkle the New Year's Eve in front of the door as a sign that the enemy's home was ravaged. Those who go out or run away don't go home in the dark until the enemy retreats on the first night of the first month. Some of them came home early the next morning to find their homes destroyed and their families killed. All the people shed tears and their hearts were filled with anger. They can only take their loved ones with grief. Therefore, Xinghua's folk custom takes the second day of the first month as the day of visiting relatives. Funeral in the third grade, old age in the fourth grade (commonly known as "big" age). This custom has been passed down to this day.
The origin of Xianyou's birthday on the third day of the first month
Xianyou has a custom of celebrating birthdays that is different from other places. This is the year when the old man turns "10". No matter what month and day he was born, the birthday celebration is usually held on the third day of the first month of that year. Its origin is related to the fairy dream of Jiuli Lake.
It is said that a scholar's mother suddenly went blind because of illness. A scholar is a famous dutiful son. In order to treat her mother's eye disease, she gave up going to Beijing for an exam and went everywhere for medical treatment. I've been looking for it for years, but I just can't. It is said that the fairy dream in Jiuli Lake is very effective, so I went to Jiuli Lake to pray for eye drops. That night, the scholar dreamed that Gong Xian said, "People go into the mountains to find white water and cure the happiness behind the temple."
The next day, the scholar woke up, pushed the dream fairy's words and went to the temple to find medicine. He saw a spring behind the temple, which was clear and transparent, and many people came here to get water. It is said that this is a fairy spring, which can cure many diseases and will not dry up no matter how dry the weather is.
Hearing this, the scholar was overjoyed. It turned out that when he heard the word "fairy spring", he immediately thought of the phrase "people go into the mountains to find white water" that the fairy said in my dream last night. The word "people go into the mountains" should be "immortal", and "white water" is "spring". Together, the two words are "immortal spring". He prayed for eye drops, and Gong Xian instructed him to look for it in the temple, and it will be fine in the future. Obviously, Xianquan is an eye drop, so he was overjoyed. He filled a bottle at once and then hurried home.
On the third day of the first month, the scholar went home. This year, his mother just turned 70. "Life is seventy years old." There is a custom in the village that every 70-year-old man will come to his house to congratulate him in the first month. Today, I heard that the scholar brought back a fairy spring from Jiuli Lake, far away, to treat his mother's eyes. Everyone in the village came to the scholar's home, one to congratulate him and the other to see the immortal spring.
Who knows, the scholar wiped his mother's eyes with spring water, but it was not good. Just when everyone was anxious, I heard someone outside say, "I'm late. Congratulations." When you look at it, it turns out to be an old doctor in the village. I heard that the scholar had a fairy spring, and just then he came in.
When the old doctor saw the scholar directly wiping his mother's eyes with spring water, he quickly said, "No, no!" " "Say that finish, he ordered an empty bowl, poured a bag of flour into the bowl, then poured the spring water into the bowl, stirred it into wet dough, applied it to the old lady's eyes, and then ordered the spring water to boil and drink. A few hours later, the old lady's eyes really recovered, and everyone could not help cheering for the magical fairy spring.
Just now, the scholar was shocked to hear the old doctor say "congratulations late". Now that his mother's eyes have recovered, he remembered another sentence that Gong Xian said in his dream. "Ji Yuan is behind the temple (late) (congratulations)." It turns out that Gong Xian's sentence has a double meaning. The former means to show him the location of Xianquan, and the latter means to suggest that the cure of mother's eye disease should be on the old doctor who "congratulated later".
The scholar thanked the fairy in Jiulihu for pointing out eye drops, and also thanked the old doctor for curing his mother's eyes. So he gave the old doctor a big gift. At that time, the most expensive gift in the countryside was pig's trotters. Because the old doctor came in with flour to congratulate him, and the scholar sent back the trotters, people used the phrase "send back the noodles to the trotters" to express courtesy. In the long-term circulation, the saying of Xianyou has been formed.
The scholar thanked his neighbors for coming early to congratulate him because they were concerned about his mother's eye disease, so he wanted to leave all his neighbors for dinner at noon. Everyone refused, but in the process of giving in to each other, the scholar suddenly had an idea and said, "My mother's seventieth birthday is in March. Today, in order to celebrate the recovery of her old man's eyes, we advanced our birthday to today as a celebration of double happiness. How about asking your old neighbor to show his face and have a light meal to show his birthday? " The scholar's proper gift was rejected by everyone, and under the kindness, he agreed to stay and eat birthday wine together.
After eating the birthday party with great fanfare, the scholar felt that he should also give gifts to his neighbors just now. Just this year, there was a bumper harvest of oranges, and several baskets were collected in the orange orchard on my mountain. Therefore, when guests leave home, everyone gives them a pair of oranges to show good luck. In the future, the birthday of Xianyou people, no matter which month it is, will be celebrated on the third day of the first month of that year. Moreover, people who celebrate their birthdays will bring flour (later changed to dried noodles) as gifts, and the host who celebrates their birthdays will send back oranges as auspicious symbols, which has become the custom of the local people and has continued to this day.
References:
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