Introduction of Laba Festival, what to eat on Laba Festival, and what are the customs?

Laba Festival, commonly known as Laba, is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Since ancient times, Laba has been used to worship ancestors and gods (including door gods, household gods, house gods, kitchen gods and well gods) in order to pray for good harvest and good luck. According to the Book of Rites, La Worship was "the year of December, when everything gathered and everything wanted something." The Xia dynasty called Lari "Jiaping", the Shang dynasty called it "moss" and the Zhou dynasty called it "big wax". Because it is held in December, it is called the twelfth lunar month, and La Worship is called the twelfth lunar month. The twelfth lunar month in the pre-Qin period was the third day after the winter solstice, and then Buddhism was introduced. In order to expand its influence in the local area, traditional culture attaches Laba Festival as the Buddhist calendar enlightenment day. Later, with the prevalence of Buddhism, the Buddha's enlightenment day merged with the twelfth day, which was called the "magic weapon festival" in Buddhism. The Northern and Southern Dynasties began to be fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Second, the food culture of Laba Festival

In the food culture of China, the food culture of Laba Festival occupies a place. There are many food customs all over the country to worship ancestors and gods.

1, Laba porridge. China has been drinking Laba porridge for more than 1000 years. It first started in the Song Dynasty. On the day of Laba, whether it is the imperial court, the government, temples, or the people's homes, Laba porridge will be cooked. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became more popular. At court, emperors, queens and princes give 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 members get together for dinner and give gifts to relatives and friends. Although the ingredients of Laba porridge in different regions are different, they basically include cereals such as rice, millet, glutinous rice, sorghum rice, purple rice and coix seed, beans such as soybeans, red beans, mung beans, kidney beans and cowpeas, and dried fruits such as red dates, peanuts, lotus seeds, medlar, chestnuts, walnuts, almonds, longan, raisins and ginkgo. Laba porridge is not only a seasonal food, but also a good health care product, especially suitable for maintaining the spleen and stomach in cold weather.

2. Cook five beans. In some places, Laba porridge 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).

3. Laba vinegar. Laba vinegar is the custom of Laba Festival in Han nationality. In the Han nationality areas in northern China, the custom of soaking garlic with vinegar is called Laba vinegar. Laba vinegar should be soaked until the first day of New Year's Day. When eating jiaozi, you should be a vegetarian in jiaozi for one year, dipped in Laba vinegar.

4, Laba garlic. It is a custom in the north, especially in North China to brew Laba garlic on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Its materials are vinegar and garlic cloves. Make garlic 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 it in a cold place. Slowly, the garlic soaked in vinegar will turn green, and finally the whole body will turn green, like jade and jasper.

5. eat ice. On the day before Laba Festival, people usually scoop water in steel pots and freeze it. When Laba Festival comes, they will remove the ice and break it. It is said that the ice on this day is magical, and it won't hurt your stomach for a year after eating it. [4]

6, Laba tofu. Laba tofu is one of the traditional snacks of Han nationality in yi county, Anhui Province, and it is a holiday custom. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, on the eve of the Spring Festival, every household will bake tofu, which is called "Laba tofu" by the people. The production method is to make tofu from tender small soybeans, cut into round or square blocks, then smear salt water, dig a small hole in the middle of the upper part, add a proper amount of salt, and bake it slowly in the mild sunshine in winter, so that the salt is gradually inhaled and the water is gradually dried, thus making Laba tofu. The finished product is yellow as jade, soft at the entrance, salty and sweet, and fragrant and fresh. If shrimp and other ingredients are added during drying, the taste will be better.

7. Laba noodles. Laba noodles, seasonal food for Laba Festival. Traditional pasta of Han nationality is popular in Chengcheng area of Weibei, Shaanxi Province. Generally, you don't drink porridge on Laba Festival. On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household eats several bowls of laba noodles. Noodles and various beans (red beans) are used as raw materials, and the noodles need to be made into leek leaves (noodles with the same width as leek leaves) for use; Red beans are soaked for one night in advance, and soup is made on the day of Laba. When the water boils, turn to low heat until the red beans are cooked, and cook the noodles on medium heat. At the same time, the cooked oil will stir-fry chopped green onion. After the noodles are cooked, the chopped green onion oil will be poured into the pot.

8, wheat and rice. Xining people don't drink porridge on Laba Festival, but eat wheat kernel rice. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the newly ground wheat grains are cooked with beef and mutton, with green salt, ginger skin, pepper, tsaoko, Miao Xiang and other condiments, and cooked overnight with slow fire. According to the legend in Qinghai, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when Sakyamuni became a monk. Before the Taoist priest became a monk, a shepherdess offered chyle and cooked porridge with fragrant grains for the Buddha. That porridge is wheat kernel porridge, which later became "Laba porridge" in Qinghai. According to this practice, later generations made this diet into a recipe for Qinghai people, and it also became a popular dish in restaurants.

Third, the custom of Laba Festival.

1, Shaanxi Laba Festival custom. After laba porridge is cooked, you should sacrifice to God and ancestors first. After that, give it to relatives and friends, and be sure to send it out before noon. Finally, the whole family eats together. It is a good sign that the leftover Laba porridge will be preserved after eating for a few days, which means "more than one year". If you give porridge to the poor, it will be better for you. In some places where little or no rice is produced, people eat laba noodles instead of laba porridge. Make minced meat with all kinds of fruits and vegetables and roll out noodles. On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole family eats together.

2. Gansu Laba Festival custom. Traditionally, cooked Laba porridge is made of grains and vegetables, which are not only eaten by family members, but also distributed to neighbors for feeding livestock. Wuwei, Gansu pays attention to "Sulaba", eating coarse rice, lentil rice or coarse rice, cooked with fried seeds and twist. Folk call it "bean porridge bubble".

3. Xining Laba Festival custom. Laba Festival does not drink porridge, but eats wheat kernel rice. On the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the freshly ground wheat is cooked with beef and mutton, accompanied by green salt, ginger skin, pepper, tsaoko, Miao Xiang and other condiments. After a slow fire all night, the rice with wheat grains is very fragrant and delicious.

4. Laba Festival custom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. People in Jiangsu eat laba porridge, both sweet and salty. Laba porridge should be added with medlar, water chestnut, walnut kernel, pine nuts, Euryale euryales, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, vegetables, Flammulina velutipes and so on. If salty porridge is cooked, just add vegetables and oil. Zhejiang people usually cook Laba porridge with walnut kernel, pine nuts, lotus seeds, red dates, longan meat and litchi meat. Sweet and delicious. It is said that this method of cooking porridge was handed down from Nanjing.

5. Customs of Northwest Laba Festival. Laba Festival is in the northern Shaanxi Plateau. In addition to rice and beans, porridge also contains various dried fruits, tofu and meat. After eating, you should put porridge on the door, on the stove and on the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, so as to welcome the next year's agricultural harvest. Moreover, it is forbidden to eat vegetables on Laba. If you eat vegetables on this day, there will be more weeds in the crops. On Laba Festival, people not only eat Laba porridge, but also worship their ancestors and granaries with porridge.

6. Customs of Laba Festival in Ningxia. To make laba rice, rice and potatoes are usually cooked in porridge with various beans, and then "ears of wheat" cut into rhombic willow leaves with wheat flour or buckwheat flour, or "sparrow heads" made into small round eggs, and chopped green onion oil is added before cooking. Like northern Shaanxi, the whole family only eats laba rice, not vegetables.

7. Laba Festival custom in Beijing. Laba porridge in Beijing can be said to be the most exquisite. There are many things mixed in white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, grapes, ginkgo, moss, roses, red beans and peanuts. No fewer than 20 kinds. On the seventh night of the twelfth lunar month, people began to wash rice, soak fruits, peel and remove stones, and began to stew with low fire in the middle of the night. Laba porridge was not cooked until the next morning.