The Origin of Fourteen Nights by the Sea
Bad soup is divided into sweet soup and salty soup, which is usually eaten by every family at the age of fourteen. Salted soup is mainly made of 10 kinds of vegetables, meat and seafood, cut into granules, stir-fried until half cooked, and then added with rice flour paste or starch paste. Sweet soup is mainly rice cakes, Sichuan watercress, candied oranges, raisins and small dumplings. Old people in Linhai usually drink soup without spoons, but with chopsticks. What's more, they squatted at the door with a bowl of rotten soup in their hands, without chopsticks and spoons. They walked along the edge of the bowl, turned around and gulped down, and a bowl of rotten soup had already entered their stomachs.
There is a saying about the origin of bad soup:
"Linhai County Records" all said: "It is said that when the city was built in the Tang Dynasty, it was freezing in the cold, and it became a much-told story.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Taizhou (Linhai) was often burned and looted by pirates. Wei Chiliang, the secretariat at that time, mobilized soldiers to build a city to guard against theft. The construction starts on the 14th day of the first month. As usual, people will celebrate the Lantern Festival. Pirates took the opportunity to land in Taizhou Bay. When Wei Chi, the secretariat, learned of it, he sent troops to suppress thieves and stepped up the construction of the city. That night, the construction of the destroyer city Xuefeng did not progress quickly. People get together to discuss which night to burn to comfort the soldiers who built the city. Some people say that sending food and wine can keep out the cold. The history of commanders stipulates that soldiers are not allowed to drink alcohol. Another man came up with a good idea: use new wine with bad taste as water, mix good food with powder and stir it into bad soup, which is delicious and keeps out the cold. Sure enough, the soldiers drank the bad soup, were all hot, were not afraid of the cold, worked harder and made great progress.
The second statement is:
Fang Guozhen, the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of Yuan Dynasty, was afraid that Zhu Yuanzhang would attack before the Lantern Festival, so he advanced the Lantern Festival by one day.
The third statement:
Qin was the top scholar of the Ming Dynasty and a high official. His mother believed in Buddhism and fasted on the fifteenth day of the first month. As a dutiful son, Qin couldn't bear his mother to celebrate the New Year, so he advanced the Lantern Festival by the sea to 14, and then his mother could celebrate the Lantern Festival. Mothers can also enjoy holidays with their families.
The fourth statement:
Because Fang Guozhen's wife, Dong Shi, was born on the 14th day of the first month, she advanced the Lantern Festival by one night.
The fifth statement:
It is said that when Qi Jiguang fought against Japan in Taizhou, the operational secrets were leaked, so the Lantern Festival was advanced by one night, and so on.
Legend belongs to legend. No one goes back to the source, and it is impossible to dig this "cultural heritage" deeply and pass it on from generation to generation.