Customs of Laba Festival in southern Shaanxi

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, in ancient times, it was a day when people sacrificed their ancestors and gods and prayed for a bumper harvest in the coming year. Later, influenced by Buddhism introduced from abroad, it also meant to commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment. Since the Song Dynasty, people have gradually formed the custom of eating Laba porridge on Laba Festival. All localities have to soak Laba vinegar and eat laba rice, so let the old calendar introduce you to the custom of Laba Festival in southern Shaanxi.

Hanzhong city

Hanzhong people eat "laba rice", which is a kind of mixed porridge made of glutinous rice, soybeans, radishes, peanuts, diced tofu, chestnuts, dates and diced meat. It is delicious and nutritious. Feed Laba porridge or spread fruit branches to livestock and poultry, and read aloud "Big trees and small trees eat Laba, and bear more big pimples (fruits) next year", and pray with "La Worship" that the next year will be fruitful and prosperous.

Shangluo city

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Shangluo people cook Laba porridge, which is called "eating Laba". Laba porridge is made by mixing three kinds of rice (rice, millet and corn) and five kinds of beans (soybean, adzuki bean, mung bean, rattan bean and mung bean), and adding a little oil and salt.

When eating porridge, the old people always talk about the origin of Laba porridge: the prodigal son is hardworking and brave, and his family is well-off. Later, he was bewitched by the fox demon, eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, and even starving in the snow on Laba day. The neighbor's gold didn't change, so she cleaned the grain store, collected eight kinds of miscellaneous grains and cooked porridge to save him. After my death, I changed my bad habits and my family quickly regained its vitality. After cooking porridge that day, I decided not to forget. Because there is a proverb: "The prodigal son never changes his money".

The more porridge you cook, the better. No matter how big the pot is, you should cook a big pot. People eat leftovers and then feed them all to the trees. And read aloud: "Fruit trees eat Laba, and the next year will be full." The porridge paste on the branches attracted birds to peck, and the birds pecked the eggs to protect the trees. As the saying goes: people eat Laba, which is to educate people to maintain its excellent quality; Trees eat Laba to protect birds and trees.