The implication of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival

Drive away epidemics, welcome good luck, maintain the virtue of thrift, and do good deeds to accumulate virtue.

In the past, there was a custom of playing ghosts with red beans, in order to deal with epidemic ghosts; Legend has it that there was a young man in the Western Jin Dynasty who was lazy and later repented. Laba porridge also represents health and good luck. Large families or temples will cook porridge and give it to the poor.

Laba Festival, that is, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, is also called "Magic Weapon Festival", "Buddhist Enlightenment Festival" and "Enlightenment Meeting". Originally a Buddhist festival to commemorate the enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha, it gradually became a folk festival. Laba porridge, also known as "seven treasures and five flavors porridge", "Buddha porridge" and "everyone's meal", is a kind of porridge made of various ingredients. The earliest written record of Laba porridge was in the Song Dynasty. Wu's Dream in the Southern Song Dynasty says: "On the eighth day of this month, the temple name is Laba. Dasha and other temples have five-flavored porridge called Laba porridge. " China has been drinking Laba porridge for more than 1000 years. On Laba Day, government agencies, monasteries and ordinary people's homes will cook Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became more popular.