The origin of Laba porridge

The origin of Laba porridge

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that Laba porridge comes from India.

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of Sudoku king in northern India (now Nepal). He saw that all living beings were suffering from physical and mental diseases. He was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time and gave up the throne to become a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. During these six years of asceticism, I only ate one hemp and one meter every day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings, and they ate porridge every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a souvenir. "Laba" became "Buddha Inauguration Day". "Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples all over the country held Buddhist bathing parties and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend that Sakyamuni was a herdsman who offered chyle before he became a Taoist priest, and cooked porridge with fragrant valleys and fruits for the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was presented to disciples and kind men and women, and became a folk custom in the future. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks will hold alms bowls along the street and cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that eating it can get the blessing of Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". The poem of Lu You in the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Today, Buddha porridge is more mutually beneficial, contrary to the preservation of new things in Jiangcun." It is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "rice stack building" for storing leftovers. Usually, the monks in the temple will dry the leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus grain, and cook them into Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month for believers. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that they can increase their happiness and longevity after eating them. It can be seen that monks at that time cherished the virtue of food very much.

Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and then the materials were gradually increased. "Old Wulin Stories" carefully written by the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in Jiangnan, Northeast and Northwest China still have the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. Different materials are used, and glutinous rice, red beans, Chinese dates, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds and lilies are often used to cook sweet porridge. There are also cooked longan, longan meat and candied fruit. Eating a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, which can really increase happiness and prolong life.

★ "Laba porridge can't be finished, and there will be a bumper harvest after eating Laba porridge." The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is a traditional folk festival in China-"Laba Festival". On this day in Guanzhong area, every household should cook a pot of "Laba porridge" and have a good meal. Not only adults and dolls eat it, but also feed some animals, chickens and dogs, and put some on doors, walls and trees for good luck.

The custom of eating "Laba porridge" on Laba Festival has a long history and has been rising since human beings entered the agricultural society. In ancient times, "wax" meant sacrifice. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, China had the habit of offering sacrifices to heaven and earth, gods and ancestors together, and called this comprehensive sacrifice "joint sacrifice". This kind of sacrifice expresses a simple and kind psychological activity of ancient people, which means: you should thank the gods for their abundant food and agriculture all year round! So I choose to cook a pot of "Laba porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to worship the gods, celebrate the harvest and wish greater harvest in the coming year. This formed the custom of eating Laba porridge on Laba Festival. In the process of the inheritance of Laba Festival, there is also a legend that Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, ate porridge cooked by a shepherd girl with apple glutinous rice dumplings on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and became a Buddha under a bodhi tree. People who believe in Buddhism in later generations will recite scriptures and eat porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which adds religious color to Laba Festival. In any case, people eat Laba porridge to celebrate the harvest.

"Laba porridge" can really reflect the bumper harvest of agriculture, because it is a kind of porridge mixed with various kinds of rice (glutinous rice, yellow rice, white rice, sorghum rice, etc.). ), all kinds of beans (soybeans, beans, cowpeas, etc. ), all kinds of dried fruits (jujube, chestnuts, almonds, peanuts, walnuts, longan meat, etc. ), tofu and meat. People in Guanzhong area and some nearby areas attach great importance to Laba Festival. However, each county, township and village has its own emphasis. Farmers in Fuping county like to make wine on this day, which is called "pulling"; The ancient custom in Chang 'an County is to pour cook the meat Mi on flowers and trees on this day, which is called "never rest"; In Ganxian and Liquan areas, it is very important to send porridge to the elderly on Laba Festival, and the daughter's family should invite the new son-in-law to eat porridge; Fengxiang area is made of yellow rice and eight kinds of beans, plus oil and salt to make a laba braised rice; In rural areas of Tongchuan area, the habit of shaving heads and cutting hair of young boys and girls is still popular on this day. All these things have different tastes.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that Laba porridge comes from India. The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of Sudoku king in northern India (now Nepal). He saw that all living beings were suffering from physical and mental diseases. He was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time and gave up the throne to become a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. During these six years of asceticism, I only ate one hemp and one meter every day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings, and they ate porridge every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a souvenir. "Laba" became "Buddha Inauguration Day".

"Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples all over the country held Buddhist bathing parties and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend that Sakyamuni was a herdsman who offered chyle before he became a Taoist priest, and cooked porridge with fragrant valleys and fruits for the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was presented to disciples and kind men and women, and became a folk custom in the future. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks will hold alms bowls along the street and cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that eating it can get the blessing of Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". The poem of Lu You in the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Today, Buddha porridge is more mutually beneficial, contrary to the preservation of new things in Jiangcun." It is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "rice stack building" for storing leftovers. Usually, the monks in the temple will dry the leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus grain, and cook them into Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month for believers. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that they can increase their happiness and longevity after eating them. It can be seen that monks at that time cherished the virtue of food very much.

Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and then the materials were gradually increased. "Old Wulin Stories" carefully written by the Southern Song Dynasty said: "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in Jiangnan, Northeast and Northwest China still have the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. Different materials are used, and glutinous rice, red beans, Chinese dates, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds and lilies are often used to cook sweet porridge. There are also cooked longan, longan meat and candied fruit. Eating a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, which can really increase happiness and prolong life. (China Spring Festival travel rush Network)

Dietary customs of Laba porridge in different places

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the folk custom called Laba is the first festival before the Spring Festival. Since then, the "annual flavor" has become stronger and stronger. The custom of eating Laba porridge has a history of thousands of years in China, and it has different origins.

According to legend, in the northern part of ancient India, that is, in the southern part of Nepal today, there was a suddhodana king in Luowei country of Carpil. He has a son named Gautama Siddharta. When he was young, he felt all kinds of pains about life, old age, illness and death. He found that social life was futile and was extremely dissatisfied with the theocracy of Brahmanism. So, at the age of 29, he gave up the luxurious life of the royal family and became a monk. According to historical records, this day is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in China. Because he is Sakyamuni, Buddhists later called him Sakyamuni, which means Sakyamuni's saint. After Buddhism was introduced into China, temples were built in various places, and the activity of cooking porridge to worship Buddha became popular. Especially on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, when Sakyamuni was sacrificed to practice Buddhism, all temples held chanting and imitated a legendary program of "chyle" before Buddhism became a Buddha, cooking porridge to worship Buddha. This is the origin of Laba porridge.

In the Song Dynasty, Wu wrote Meng Lianglu for six years: "On the eighth day of the eighth month, the temple name was Laba. Dasha Temple and other places have five-flavored porridge, which is called' Laba porridge'. " At this time, Laba porridge has become a folk custom, but at that time, the emperor also used it to win over all the ministers. Guo Sun, a native of Yuan Dynasty, wrote a story about his visit to Yan Dou: "On December 8th, it was about rice congee, which was mixed with rice and fruit. More goods win, and this story follows the story of the Song Dynasty. " "Yongle Dadian" records: "It is the eighth day of the month, and the Zen family calls it Laba Festival, and cooks porridge for the Buddha." In the third year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1725), Sejong changed the mansion east of imperial academy in Andingmen, Beijing into the Lama Temple. On the eighth day of Laba, in Wanfuge and other places in the palace, Laba porridge was cooked in a pot, and Lama monks were invited to recite scriptures, and then the porridge was distributed to palace ministers for tasting and eating to celebrate the festival. "Guangxu Shuntian Fuzhi" says: "On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Yonghe officials cooked porridge, customized it, and sent ministers to supervise it and cover the rice." Laba porridge is also called "Qibao porridge" and "Wuwei porridge". The earliest Laba porridge was boiled with adzuki beans, which gradually enriched through evolution and local characteristics. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar's "Old Wulin Stories" said: "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk, persimmons and chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Fu Cha Dunchong, a Qing Dynasty man, said in "The Year of Yanjing": "Laba porridge is cooked with yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut, peeled jujube paste, etc." And dyed with red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar and miscellaneous grapes for external use. "

Tianjin people cook Laba porridge, which is similar to Beijing's, and is made of lotus seeds, lilies, pearl rice, Italian glutinous rice, barley kernels, sticky glutinous rice, sticky yellow rice, beans, mung beans, longan meat, longan meat, ginkgo, red dates and sweet-scented osmanthus in syrup. , full of color, smell and taste. In recent years, black rice has been added. This Laba porridge can be used for dietotherapy, and has the effects of invigorating spleen, stimulating appetite, invigorating qi, calming nerves, clearing away heart fire and nourishing blood.

Shanxi Laba porridge, also known as eight-treasure porridge, is mainly made of millet, with cowpea, red bean, mung bean, jujube, sticky yellow rice, rice and glutinous rice. In southeastern Shanxi, cooking porridge with water is also one of the dietary customs. This kind of porridge is called fragrant rice, that is, red beans, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, peanuts, glutinous rice and persimmons on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

On the day of Laba in the northern Shaanxi Plateau, besides all kinds of rice and beans, porridge is cooked with all kinds of dried fruits, tofu and meat. Usually cooked in the morning, sweet or salty, depending on people's tastes. If you eat at noon, you should cook some noodles in the porridge so that the whole family can get together for dinner. After eating, you should also put porridge on the door, on the stove and on the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters and welcome the agricultural harvest in the coming year. According to folklore, vegetables are forbidden in Laba on this day, saying that there are many weeds in the field after eating Lai crops. Laba people in southern Shaanxi want to eat miscellaneous porridge, which is divided into "five flavors" and "eight flavors" The former is cooked with rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, ginkgo and beans. The latter uses the above five raw materials to add diced meat, tofu and radish, and also adds seasonings. On Laba Festival, people not only eat Laba porridge, but also worship their ancestors and granaries with porridge.

Gansu people have traditionally cooked Laba porridge with grains and vegetables. After cooking, it is not only for family members to eat, but also distributed to neighbors to feed livestock. In the urban areas of Lanzhou and Baiyin, Laba porridge is boiled with rice, beans, red dates, ginkgo, lotus seeds, raisins, dried apricots, dried melons, walnuts, shredded green beans, sugar and diced meat. After cooking, it is first used to worship the door gods, kitchen gods, land gods and the god of wealth, and pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year; Then give it to the neighbors and the last family will enjoy it. Wuwei, Gansu pays attention to "Sulaba", eating rice, lentil or glutinous rice, cooked with fried seeds and twist. Folklore calls it "bean porridge bubble".

People in Ningxia usually cook porridge with lentils, soybeans, red beans, broad beans, black beans, rice and potatoes as laba rice, and add "ears of wheat" cut into rhombic willow leaves with wheat flour or buckwheat flour, or "heads of birds" made into small round eggs, and then add chopped green onion oil before cooking. On this day, the whole family only ate laba rice instead of vegetables.

Most people in Xining, Qinghai are Han people, but Laba doesn't eat porridge, but eats wheat kernel rice. Boil freshly ground wheat grains with beef and mutton, add green salt, ginger skin, pepper, tsaoko, Miao Xiang and other condiments, and after a night of slow fire, the meat and wheat merge into a milky white shape. It smells good when the lid is opened in the morning.

In Shandong Province's "Confucian Cuisine System", there are two kinds of "Laba porridge". One is made of rice kernels, longan, lotus seeds, lilies, chestnuts, red dates, japonica rice, etc. Some "porridge fruits" were added to the bowl, mainly carved into fruits of various shapes as decorations. This kind of porridge is specially prepared for the master of Confucius and the master of the zodiac. The other is cooked with rice, sliced meat, cabbage and tofu. It's for the servants of Confucius' family.

People in Henan eat laba rice, which is cooked with eight kinds of raw materials, such as millet, mung bean, cowpea, wheat kernel, peanuts, red dates and corn. When cooking porridge, add some brown sugar and walnut kernels to make porridge thick and fragrant, which means a bumper harvest next year.

Eating Laba porridge in Jiangsu is divided into sweet and salty, and the cooking method is the same. It's just that salty porridge is served with vegetables and oil. Suzhou people should add arrowheads, water chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, Gordon Euryale seeds, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, vegetables, Flammulina velutipes and so on when cooking Laba porridge. Li Fu, a scholar in Suzhou in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "The porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month came from Brahma, and the seven treasures were harmonious and beautiful, with mixed flavors."

Zhejiang people usually cook Laba porridge with walnut kernel, pine nuts, Gordon Euryale seeds, lotus seeds, red dates, longan meat and litchi meat. Sweet and delicious, pray for a long life. It is said that this porridge cooking method was handed down from Nanjing, which contains some legends.

There are many people in Sichuan. Laba porridge can be made in a variety of ways, including sweet, salty and spicy, while rural people eat salty porridge, which is mainly made of soybeans, peanuts, diced meat, white radish and carrots. Strangers come here to taste, although do as the Romans do, but it is difficult to get used to it. Now many people in the city eat sweet porridge, which can be called different tastes. Laba is closely related to porridge. Drinking porridge in Laba can be regarded as a fancy and a level.

There are some scientific reasons why people in China love Laba porridge so much, besides food customs. The porridge spectrum written by Cao Yanshan, a nutritionist in Qing Dynasty, gives a detailed and clear introduction to the fitness and nutritional functions of Laba porridge. Laba porridge has the functions of harmonizing stomach and strengthening spleen, nourishing heart and clearing lung, benefiting kidney and liver, quenching thirst and improving eyesight, relaxing bowels and calming the nerves, and is a good food therapy. These have been confirmed by modern medicine. Laba porridge is also a good food for the elderly, but we should also be careful not to drink too much. In fact, it is not only Laba, but also porridge for the elderly. There are many kinds of porridge, which can vary from person to person. You can choose according to your own needs and eat it as appropriate. (Fujian hotline)

Laba tofu

"Laba Tofu" is a folk specialty in Ganxian County, Anhui Province. Before Laba on the eve of the Spring Festival, that is, before and after the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household in Ganxian county will sun tofu, which the people call Laba tofu.

Emerald Jasper Laba Garlic

Pickling Laba garlic is a custom in northern China, especially in northern China. As the name implies, garlic is brewed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the materials are very simple, namely vinegar and garlic cloves. The method is also extremely simple. Put the peeled garlic cloves in a sealable container, such as a jar or bottle, then pour in vinegar, seal the mouth and put them in a cool place. Slowly, garlic will turn green when soaked in vinegar, and finally it will turn green all over, just like jade and jasper.

Cook "five beans"

In some places, the porridge cooked in Laba is not called Laba porridge, but called Wudou. Some are made on Laba Festival, and some are made on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month. Some "sparrow heads" are also cooked with flour, rice and beans (five kinds of beans). It is said that Laba's eating "sparrow head" sparrow has a headache and will not harm crops in the coming year. This kind of "five beans" is cooked not only for eating, but also for relatives and neighbors. When you eat it every day, heat it and eat it together until the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month, which symbolizes more than a year.

Laba noodles

In some places in northern China where little or no rice is produced, people eat laba noodles instead of laba porridge. The next day, the whole family will eat Laba noodles on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

The most important festival in December of the lunar calendar is the eighth day of December, which was called "La Ri" in ancient times and commonly known as "Laba Festival". Since the pre-Qin period, Laba Festival has been used to worship ancestors and gods and pray for good harvest and good luck. It is said that Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, realized enlightenment on the eighth day of December, so Laba is also a Buddhist festival, which is called "Buddhist Enlightenment Festival".

Laba has the custom of eating Laba porridge on this day. Laba porridge is also called "Qibao Wuwei porridge". China has a history of drinking Laba porridge for 1000 years. It first started in the Song Dynasty. On the day of Laba, no matter the court, the government, temples or homes for the benefit of the people will cook Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became more popular. In the court, emperors, queens and princes distribute Laba porridge to civil and military ministers and attendants, and distribute rice and fruit to monasteries for monks to eat. In the folk, every household should also make Laba porridge to worship their ancestors; At the same time, family groups get together for dinner and give gifts to relatives and friends.

There are many kinds of Laba porridge in China. Among them, Beiping is the most exquisite, and there are many items mixed in white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, hazelnuts, grapes, ginkgo, water chestnuts, mosses, roses, red beans and peanuts. There are no fewer than twenty kinds in all. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people began to get busy, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing stones and picking carefully, then cooking in the middle of the night, and then stewing with low fire until Laba porridge was cooked the next morning.

More sophisticated people must first carve fruits into human shapes, animals and patterns, and then cook them in a pot. More distinctive is to put "fruit lion" in Laba porridge. Fruit lion is a lion made of several kinds of fruits, with peeled and dried crisp dates as the lion's body, half walnut kernel as the lion's head, peach kernel as the lion's foot and sweet almond as the lion's tail. Then stick them together with sugar and put them in a porridge bowl, just like a little lion. If the bowl is bigger, you can put two lions or four little lions on it. More exquisitely, it is made of jujube paste, bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other foods of various colors into statues of the Eight Immortals, the birthday girl and Lohan. This decorative Laba porridge can only be seen on the altar of the former big temple.

After laba porridge is cooked, you should worship the gods and ancestors first. After that, you should give it to your relatives and friends, and you must send it before noon. Finally, the whole family eats together. The leftover Laba porridge is preserved after eating for a few days, which is a good sign, which means it is more than enough every year. If you give porridge to the poor, it will be better for you.

Laba porridge also has the function of witchcraft among the people. If there are flowers and fruit trees in the yard, we should also spread some Laba porridge on the branches. I believe it will bear more fruits in the coming year.

On the day of Laba, in addition to offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods, there are people who mourn the death of the country and place their grief.

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is Laba Festival in China. In rural areas of China, many farmers still keep the custom of drinking Laba porridge on this day. The twelfth lunar month is also called the twelfth lunar month: because it was freezing and snowing at that time, farmers could not go out to farm, so they could only cook bacon, sausages and other foods at home.

It turns out that "Laba porridge" is not ordinary porridge. There is a story behind it. ...

Once upon a time, there was such a family, an old couple and a young couple lived a happy life. The old couple loves the young couple very much and won't let them do any work because they are afraid that they will be tired. Therefore, the young couple can't do anything with their mouths open and clothes on all day.

Later, the old couple passed away. Because the young couple couldn't work, they ate all the food in the house and finally sold the house, leaving only half a rotten hut. When winter came, the young couple were shivering in the hut, cold and hungry. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, they were so hungry that they swept out some miscellaneous grains from the corner of the hut and cooked some porridge to satisfy their hunger. When they cooked porridge and were ready to eat, suddenly a strong wind blew down the hut and the young couple were crushed to death.

People know this. In order to remind children of this lesson, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, they cook a pot of porridge with various miscellaneous grains and tell stories while eating.

References:

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