You should eat longevity noodles for your birthday. What is the original meaning of "noodles"?

In China, the folk Han people have always had the custom of eating longevity noodles on their birthdays. According to legend, it is related to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. The main ingredient of longevity noodles is high-gluten flour with various seasonings, which represents people's good wishes for the future.

Whenever an old man celebrates his birthday and entertains three relatives, friends and guests, the invitees will definitely have the product of longevity noodles (this noodle is about 1.5 meters long and used to be sold in shops, commonly known as Lamian Noodles). For birthday parties, instead of eating after drinking, everyone is given a large bowl of noodles, which is called eating "birthday noodles".

Historical origin

According to legend, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty believed in ghosts and gods and physiognomy. One day, when talking about people's life span, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty said: According to the number of images, a person's life span is long. If he is 1 inch long, he can live to 100 years old. "Dong Fangshuo, the minister sitting next to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, laughed after hearing this. All the ministers were puzzled and accused him of being rude to the emperor.

When Emperor Wu asked him what he was laughing at, Dong Fangshuo explained, "I'm not laughing at your majesty, but at Peng Zu. People live 100 years old, and people are 1 inch long. Peng Zuhuo is 800 years old and his people are 8 inches long. How long is his face? " Everyone laughed when they heard it. It seems impossible to live a long life with a long face, but you can think of a flexible way to express your desire for longevity.

The face is the face, and the kind of "face length is face length", so people borrow long faces to wish longevity. Gradually, this practice has evolved into the habit of eating noodles on birthdays (festivals), which is called "longevity noodles". Generally speaking, there is only one noodle in the whole bowl of longevity noodles. You'd better not break it when you eat it. This custom has been passed down to this day.