What are the customs of Xiaohan?

The custom of slight cold is to drink Laba porridge. The slight cold solar term coincides with the twelfth lunar month (December), and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is also called Laba. Laba is mostly between slight cold and severe cold. After Laba, it means that the New Year is coming. The custom of Laba drinking "Laba porridge" is very popular in many places in China and originated from Indian Buddhist legends. Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was originally the son of Su Fan, King of Kapilao in northern India. Seeing that all living beings are born, sick and dead, he abandoned his position and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the bodhi tree became a Buddha. After six years of asceticism, Sakyamuni had no time to take care of his personal food and clothing, and only ate some hemp and wheat every day to satisfy his hunger. When he became a Buddha, he was ragged and skinny and looked like a dead tree. Future generations will not forget his sufferings, so it is convenient to eat porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year as a souvenir. This custom was later spread to the people in China, and has continued to this day.

Sacrifice the ancestors first, then the gods. Laba Festival has also become a sacrificial festival at the end of the year. The ancients had a tradition of offering sacrifices to ancestors, worshipping gods and praying for good harvest and good luck. "Book of Rites, Suburb Sacrifice" records: "Changing homes is only wax." If there is wax, there will be a search. In December, everything will be gathered for food. "Historical Records Supplement Biography of Huang San" contains: "Yan Emperor Shennong used it as a field at the beginning, so it was reported to heaven and earth as a wax sacrifice. "The sacrifice of Laba Festival not only expressed the reverence and nostalgia for ancestors, but also sacrificed hundreds of gods in return for their contributions to agriculture in the past year.