Chapter 401 Instructions for opening the sixth volume
The Eight Immortals and Xianju have a deep connection. Since the Jin Dynasty, Xianju has been a place where Taoist priests gather for practice. When Taoist priests gather, myths and the like spread widely. However, because the transportation in Xianju in ancient times was extremely inconvenient, some This story is only circulated among a small group of Taoist priests. I have been collecting and re-creating it in the past twenty years. I have finished writing this part, and there are still some fragmentary stories about the Eight Immortals. In the entire system, the only option is to reluctantly give up.
In June 2024, Xianju ancient bayberry was approved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Xianju bayberry is famous all over the world for its large size and delicious taste, and is known as the fairy plum. According to ancient records, it was planted on a large scale in the Ming Dynasty. However, because they are naked fruits, they have a very short shelf life. The good ones enter the homes of noble officials, while the mediocre ones are only used as a good product for salt-carrying laborers to quench their thirst and relieve the heat. Their reputation among foreign merchants is not obvious. But in Taoism, In the circle, there is a magical legend about bayberry, which is said to be transformed by Laojun’s elixir. This will be described later.
In addition, due to the prevalence of Xianju Taoist culture, some Taoist-related dishes have been handed down. From ancient times to the present, Xianju Haotan has been the intersection between Taizhou's coast and the inland. Salt and goods from the coast were transported to Haotan along the waterway, and then transferred to Haotan. It is transported to the mainland by land. Although it is not a famous wharf in the country, it also drives the local economy and causes the delicacies of the coast and inland to meet here. There is a legend that because the flat peach in the sky was eaten by Sun Wukong, the Queen Mother suspended the Peach Fair. , Tianmu from Tianmu Mountain held a Danyuan Banquet for her to entertain all the gods, and consecrated ninety-nine and eighty-one food-related gods.
Chinese food is famous all over the world. The Taoist people regard food as their first priority. However, the strange thing is that in the Taoist immortal system, there are very few records about food gods. In the Confucian classics, the ancestor of food is a man with a cold nature. , Yi Ya, who killed his son to please the king, could not reach the palace of elegance.
I visited many old people and tried to restore this story completely. However, what I got were mostly fragmented story fragments, which were not very coherent with each other. In addition, although it was probably set in the Southern Song Dynasty, the characters in the story The ingredients of many dishes only appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, such as peppers, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, etc. However, folk tales are not historical records. Their contents are often like this. They are passed down orally, and their appearance changes as they are passed on. The content sometimes changes. Additions and subtractions, constant name changes, etc. The more critical shortcoming is that the economy of this small county has never been developed in history. Rich food requires abundant financial resources to support it. The underdeveloped economy has led to dishes in folklore The content is poor, and only these dozens of common dishes are repeated over and over again. This is probably the main reason why the story has not been spread on a wider scale. Today, I plan to string together these intermittent fragments and recreate them into a series. A complete story.
The main deity who lives on Tianmu Mountain is Tianmu, the Lord of Ten Thousand Stars, also known as Doumu Yuanjun, Doumu Empress, and Doumu Tianzun. She is the mother of the stars in the Big Dipper. She has the power to protect people's safety, health and happiness. .Her image is dignified and kind, dressed in gorgeous clothes, wearing a phoenix crown on her head, and holding Ruyi in her hand. In the star worship ceremony, her statue showed three eyes and eight arms, holding various magic weapons, which reflected Taoism's worship and control of the stars.
There are many disputes in historical documents about whether Tianmu Mountain in Li Bai's poem is located in Xinchang or in Xianju. As for archeology, I am a layman. All I did was collect the stories told by the elders in each village and string together the complete work through re-creation.
I hope that in ten or twenty years, the story will slowly spread in Xianju and the wider area and become a legend for future generations.
In the meantime, I stopped updating this book in order to try to solicit essays. Maybe it was because I wasn’t good enough and didn’t sign a contract. After thinking about it, I stopped updating another book called Fairy Chef Recruitment Notes and moved the content here.
This book is here, finish it, and bring it to a close. During the transfer process, no recommendation votes will be accepted. I hope book friends will forgive me.