What is Laba Festival?

The twelfth lunar month (called the twelfth lunar month every year) and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month are the traditional Laba Festival of the Han nationality in China. On this day, most parts of China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. Laba porridge is made of eight kinds of fresh grains and fruits harvested in the same year, usually sweet porridge. However, many farmers in the Central Plains like to eat Laba porridge. Besides rice, millet, mung bean, cowpea, adzuki bean, peanut and jujube, there are also shredded pork, radish, cabbage, vermicelli, kelp and tofu.

Laba Festival is also known as Laba Festival, Laba Festival, the enlightenment day of maharaja or Buddha. It turns out that in ancient times, people celebrated the harvest and thanked their ancestors and gods (including door gods, household gods, house gods, kitchen gods and well gods). In addition to ancestor worship, people have to chase the epidemic. This activity originated from Nuo in ancient times (the ritual of exorcising ghosts and avoiding epidemics in ancient times). One of the prehistoric medical methods was to exorcise ghosts and treat diseases. As a witchcraft activity, Xinhua and other places in Hunan still retain the custom of beating drums to drive away epidemics in the twelfth lunar month. Later it evolved into a religious festival to commemorate the enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni. 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 establishment of the winter solstice, and it was fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

"Shuowen" contains: "Three days after the winter, La Worship will be guarded by 100 gods." It can be seen that the third garrison day after the winter solstice is the twelfth month. Later, due to the intervention of Buddhism, the twelfth lunar month was changed to the eighth day of December. Since then, calling it "pull" has become a common custom. There are three meanings: first, "pull, Ye Jie", which means the alternation of the old and the new (recorded in Sui Shu Etiquette); The second is "wax hunters hunt together", which means that hunting in the wild can make animals sacrifice their ancestors and gods. "wax" comes from "meat", which means meat for "winter sacrifice"; Thirdly, it is said that "those who wax the wax will drive away the epidemic and welcome the spring", and Laba Festival is also called "Buddhist Daoism Festival" and "Daoism Society". In fact, it can be said that the eighth day of December is the origin of Laba Festival. According to legend, Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, practiced in the mountains and sat quietly for six years. He was so hungry that he wanted to give up the pain. He happened to meet a shepherdess and gave him chyle. After eating, he sat cross-legged under the bodhi tree, became a Buddha in early December, and started the "Buddhist and Taoist Festival" to commemorate it. Believers in China are very devout, so they merged with "La Ri" to form the "Laba Festival" and held a grand ceremony.

[Edit this paragraph] Legend of Laba Festival

The most important festival in the twelfth lunar month 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. In addition to the activities of offering sacrifices to ancestors and worshipping gods, people also have to chase the epidemic on Laba Festival. This activity originated from Nuo in ancient times (the ritual of exorcising ghosts and avoiding epidemics in ancient times). One of the prehistoric medical methods was to exorcise ghosts and treat diseases. As a witchcraft activity, Xinhua and other places in Hunan still retain the custom of beating drums to drive away epidemics in the twelfth lunar month. It is said that the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, attained enlightenment on the eighth day of December, so Laba is also a Buddhist festival, also known as "Buddhist Enlightenment Festival".

On Laba Festival, most people drink Laba porridge. There are many stories about the origin of drinking Laba porridge.

On the one hand, 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 beings were suffering physically and mentally, dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, and gave up the throne and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In the past six years, I have only eaten one hemp and one meter a day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings and ate porridge as a souvenir on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year. "Laba" became "Buddha's Day". "Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples all over the country held Buddhist baths and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legend that a herder offered chyle before Sakyamuni became a monk, and cooked fragrant cereal porridge to offer sacrifices to the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was presented to disciples and kind men and women, and later became a folk custom. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks would 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, and the opposite is Jiangcun Village." It is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "rice stack building" for storing leftovers. Usually, monks in the temple dry leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus grain, and cook laba porridge for believers on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Known as "Fushou porridge" and "Fushou porridge", it means that eating it can increase happiness and prolong life. It can be seen that the monks at that time cherished the virtue of food.

It is said that Laba Festival comes from the custom of "dressing up as a ghost with red beans". Legend has it that Zhuan Xu, one of the five emperors in ancient times, turned his three sons into evil spirits after his death and came out to scare children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and were afraid of ghosts and gods. They believe that adults and children suffer from strokes and poor health because of the spectre of epidemics. These evil spirits are fearless, only afraid of red (red) beans, so there is a saying that "red beans play ghosts." Therefore, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, porridge is cooked with adzuki beans and adzuki beans to dispel the epidemic and welcome the auspicious.

It is said that when Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, migrant workers from all over the country were ordered to come, and they could not go home for many years, so they relied on their families to deliver meals to them. Some migrant workers whose homes are separated by water in Qian Shan are unable to deliver meals, resulting in many migrant workers starving to death at the site of the Great Wall. One year, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, migrant workers who had no food jointly accumulated a few handfuls of coarse grains, put them in a pot and cooked them into porridge. Everyone drank a bowl and finally starved to death under the Great Wall. In order to mourn the migrant workers who starved to death at the Great Wall site, people eat Laba porridge every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a memorial.

On the other hand, in the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a very lazy young man. He always idled around and ate nothing. His bride repeatedly advised him to be ineffective. However, by the eighth day of December at the end of the year, his family had stopped cooking and the young man was hungry. He searched the rice jars, flour bags, pots and pans at home, washed the leftover powder and edible leftovers into the pot and cooked a bowl of mushy porridge to drink. After that, he drank it. The local people take this opportunity to educate their children to cook porridge every Laba, which not only means that they will not forget the virtues of their ancestors' diligence and thrift on Laba, but also hopes that the gods will bring a good year of plenty of food and clothing.

On the one hand, Laba Festival originated from people's commemoration of loyal minister Yue Fei. At that time, Yue Fei led troops to resist gold in Zhuxian town, which was in the severe winter of September. Yue Jiajun had no food and clothing, was hungry and cold, and the people sent porridge one after another. Yue Jiajun had a hearty meal of "thousand porridge" sent by the people, and the result was a great victory. It was the eighth day of December. After Yue Fei's death, in order to commemorate him, people cooked porridge with miscellaneous grains and beans on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which finally became a custom.

It is also said that Laba Festival originated in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was in trouble and suffering in prison, he was cold and hungry. Zhu Yuanzhang actually found some seven or eight kinds of whole grains such as red beans, rice and red dates from the rat hole in prison. Zhu Yuanzhang cooked these things into porridge. Because it was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang called this pot of miscellaneous grains porridge Laba porridge. I enjoyed a delicious meal. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang pacified the world and became the emperor facing south. In order to commemorate that special day in prison, he designated it as Laba Festival and officially named the miscellaneous grains porridge he ate that day Laba porridge.

Another theory is to educate the younger generation to be thrifty and keep the house [1]. There was a farmer earlier, and the old couple were guarding a son. The old man is a hard-working man, who spends all day in the fields, goes out early and returns late, intensively cultivates several acres of farmland every year. My wife is a thrifty person. She built a melon shed in the yard to cover the sky and spread the vegetables on the ground for three meals a day. Although her family is not rich, she has food and clothing all year round. The old couple are not only hardworking and thrifty, but also kind-hearted. When they meet someone, they often bring some rice to help others to tide over the difficulties. Time flies, the sun and the moon fly like a shuttle. In a blink of an eye, their son was seventeen or eighteen. Although big and small, they are not as lazy as his parents. This is also from eating to opening your mouth to coquetry. When I grow up, I still eat and sleep, wander around and do nothing.

One day, the old man touched his gray beard and felt old. He said to his son, "parents can only raise you young, not old." You have to sweat to eat. You should learn to grow crops in the future. " My son snorted. He went in one ear and out the other. He was still wandering around, eating and sleeping.

Soon, the old couple married their son's wife. I want my son to be a family, and this young couple should know how to work and live. I just know that this daughter-in-law is as lazy as her son, she doesn't take grass, she doesn't sleep, she stays at sunrise and at sunset, she doesn't move her needle and thread, she doesn't go into the kitchen, and she doesn't help her.

One day, my wife was full of white hair and knew that the soil had been buried in her neck. She said to her daughter-in-law, "Diligence is a cash cow and thrift is a cornucopia. To live a good life, thrift is a treasure. " The daughter-in-law turned a deaf ear to these words and didn't take a word to heart.

A few years later, the old couple was seriously ill and bedridden. They called the young couple to the bed and told them again and again, "If you want to live a rich life, the rooster has to crow three times to get up. Men should work hard, women should knit more ... "The old couple died together before the words were finished.

The young couple asked the villagers to bury two old people, look at the rice in the grain tank and the clothes in the cotton box in the cupboard. The humanitarian said, "Don't worry about eating and drinking, why go down to the mountain to bask in the sun?" The woman said, "There are light clothes in summer and cotton in winter. Why should we spin to the sun?" Echoing each other from afar, a young couple has long forgotten the wills of the two old people.

Year after year passed, and several acres of land became grassland gardens. There are fewer and fewer daily necessities, clothes, shoes and socks at home. The young couple are in no hurry. As long as someone stutters, they are lazy. Bloom falls again, and autumn goes to winter. There is no food in the field, and there is no food and clothing at home. The young couple were speechless, and the neighbors looked at the face of the dead old man. The host gave him a bun and Lucy sent a bowl of soup. The young couple are still thinking, "Begging can also kill time."

In the twelfth month, the weather is getting colder and colder. On the eighth day, it was freezing and dripping into ice. As the saying goes: "Pull up Bala and freeze to death' beggar'." The young couple had no fire in their mouths, no clothes on their bodies and no food in their bellies, and curled up on the cool kang mat to "sift the chaff". But four eyes are still searching in the room. I suddenly found some Mi Dou in the seam of the kang, so I buckled it out by hand. I also found rice grains in the cracks, all of which were dug out. This is a lifesaver. They grabbed a handful and put it in the pot. Put the grass spread on the kang into the stove, and cooked a pot of miscellaneous porridge like this. There are millet, corn, soybeans, adzuki beans, sorghum, dried vegetable leaves ... anything that can satisfy the hunger is put in. After cooking, everyone has a bowl and eats sadly. At this time, the two remembered the teachings of the two old people and regretted not listening early. It's too late now.

Just as the young couple were sad, a strong wind blew over. Because the house is in disrepair, it is in tatters. As soon as the wind blew, the house collapsed and the young couple were pinned down. When the neighbors came to dig, they were all dead, and there was half a bowl of miscellaneous bean porridge next to them. Since then, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has cooked a pot of mixed rice porridge for children to eat, and told the children the story of mixed rice porridge to educate them. In this way, one spread ten, ten spread a hundred, and the farther it spread; Fathers pass on children, and children pass on grandchildren. Has been passed down to modern times. Formed the custom of eating "miscellaneous rice porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Because this kind of porridge is eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it is called "Laba porridge". 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 Laba Festival, in Wanfuge and other places in the palace, Laba porridge is cooked in a pot, and monks are invited to recite scriptures, and then the porridge is distributed to palace ministers for tasting, so as to prepare for the festival. "Guangxu Shuntian Mansion Records" says: "On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Yonghe officials cooked porridge, customized it, sent ministers to supervise it, and covered 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. Fuchadun, a Qing man, called Laba porridge "porridge 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 exotic grapes for external use. " Every seven days, you peel and wash the fruit and do it at night. At dawn, the porridge is cooked. In addition to offering sacrifices to the Buddha first, afternoon is not allowed. There are also red dates, peach kernels and so on. Be made into lions, children, etc. To see the ingenuity, it has Beijing characteristics.

Tianjin people cook Laba porridge, which is similar to Beijing's, including lotus seeds, lilies, pearl rice, Italian glutinous rice, barley kernels, sticky glutinous rice, sticky yellow rice, kidney beans, mung beans, longan meat, ginkgo, red dates, sweet-scented osmanthus in syrup and so on. They are all good in color, smell and taste. In recent years, black rice has been added. The 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.

Laba porridge in Shanxi, also known as eight-treasure porridge, is mainly millet, with cowpea, adzuki bean, mung bean, jujube, sticky yellow rice, rice and glutinous rice. In southeastern Shanxi, cooking porridge with water is also one of the eating customs. This kind of porridge is called fragrant rice, which means adzuki beans, 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 and salty, depending on people's tastes. If it is lunch, we should cook some noodles in porridge and have a reunion dinner. 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. According to folklore, it is forbidden to eat vegetables on Laba, saying that there are many weeds in the field after eating Lai crops. Laba people in southern Shaanxi want to eat mixed 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, radish and 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 whole grains and vegetables. After cooking, it is not only for family members to eat, but also distributed to neighbors to feed livestock. In Lanzhou and Baiyin urban areas, Laba porridge is made of rice, beans, red dates, ginkgo, lotus seeds, raisins, dried apricots, dried wax gourd, walnuts, shredded mung beans, sugar and diced meat. After cooking, it is first used to worship the door god, the kitchen god, the land god and the god of wealth, and pray for good weather and good harvests in the coming year; Then give it to the neighbors and give it to the last family. 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".

People in Ningxia usually cook porridge with lentils, soybeans, adzuki beans, broad beans, black beans, rice and potatoes as laba rice, and then add wheat flour or buckwheat flour to cut into rhombic "ears" of willow leaves, or make it into "sparrow heads" of small round eggs, and then add chopped green onion oil to cook porridge. On this day, the whole family only eats laba rice, not vegetables.

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

Shandong's "Confucius Food System" stipulates that there are two kinds of "Laba porridge", one is made of rice kernels, longan, lotus seeds, lilies, chestnuts, red dates and japonica rice, and some "porridge fruits" are added to the bowl, mainly carved into fruits of various shapes for ornament. This kind of porridge is specially for Confucius' master and the master of the zodiac. The other is cooked with rice, sliced meat, cabbage and tofu. , is for the servants in Confucius.

People in Henan eat laba rice, which is made of eight kinds of raw materials, such as millet, mung bean, cowpea, wheat kernel, peanut, red dates and corn. When cooking, add some brown sugar and walnuts to make the porridge thick and fragrant, which means a bumper harvest in the coming 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 cook Laba porridge with arrowheads, water chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, euryales, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, vegetables, Flammulina velutipes and so on. 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 blended beautifully 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 method of cooking porridge came from Nanjing, which contains some legends.

There are many people in Sichuan. Laba porridge is made in a variety of ways, including sweet, salty and spicy, while rural people eat salty food, mainly 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. Nowadays, many people in the city eat sweet porridge, which can be called unique flavor. Laba is closely related to porridge. Drinking porridge in Laba is also a fancy and a level.

The production method of Hebei Laba porridge: soak white beans in advance (it is best to use them the first night and then the next day) until they are fat; Blanch white lotus seeds with hot water, remove the green stones, put white beans and white beans in a boiling water pot for 20 minutes, then add rice, glutinous rice, wheat kernels, glutinous rice, jujube, Mi Dou and chestnuts to remove the hard shell and underwear. Wash the above raw materials, put them into a pot, add enough water, boil them with strong fire and simmer for 40 minutes until the porridge is thick and the dates are rotten. After the porridge is cooked, add honey osmanthus and brown sugar (or cook brown sugar into sugar juice before adding it to the porridge) and mix well.

From the nutritional efficacy, Laba porridge has the functions of invigorating spleen, stimulating appetite, invigorating qi, calming nerves, clearing heart fire and nourishing blood, and has the function of keeping out cold. It is a good tonic in winter and can be passed down from generation to generation.

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). It is said that Laba people eat "sparrow's head", and sparrows have a headache, which will not harm crops in the coming year. This kind of boiled "five beans" is 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.

② Laba garlic

From the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the atmosphere of the New Year is getting worse every day. In most parts of northern China, the custom of soaking garlic with vinegar is called "Laba garlic".

According to the old man, the word "Laba garlic" is homophonic with the word "calculate". This is the day when all companies collect accounts and calculate the income and expenditure of this year. It can be seen that profits and losses, including foreign debts and foreign debts, must be accounted for on this day. This is how Laba Calculus works. The creditor who wants to pay his debts on Laba Festival will send a message to the person who owes him money, and he should be prepared to pay back the money. There is a folk proverb in Beijing: "Laba porridge, Laba garlic, the messenger who pays the bill;" Pay off the debt. "Later, if someone owed money to others, garlic was used instead of the word" calculate "to show taboo, and the word" calculate "was avoided. In fact, what is owed to others will be paid back after all. The New Year is coming in old Beijing. There are spicy dishes in the streets, but there is no one selling Laba garlic. Why is this? Think about it. Selling laba garlic has to be shouted. How come? Directly shout "Laba garlic!" The debtor's heart thumped when he heard the shouts. How come there are shouts of debt collection in the street! Besides, who are you talking to, a small businessman? It's good that people don't count with you, and Laba garlic can't shout in the streets. Each household makes laba garlic by itself, and calculates how to spend the year first.

To soak laba garlic, you have to use purple garlic and rice vinegar. Peel garlic cloves, soak them in rice vinegar, and put them in a small jar until New Year's Eve. Garlic cloves are bright green with the fragrance of garlic and spicy vinegar, which is the best seasoning for jiaozi. It can also be served with cold dishes, which has a unique taste.

Why do you have to soak Laba garlic in purple garlic? Purple garlic cloves are soaked thoroughly, garlic cloves are difficult to collapse, and garlic is crispy.

Why do you have to soak Laba garlic in rice vinegar? The color of rice vinegar is elegant, and the color of soaked garlic is the same as before, orange, yellow, green and green, with a sour taste and a rich and slightly sweet aroma. The color of garlic soaked in mature vinegar is black, the garlic cloves are not green enough, and the taste is poor, especially smoked vinegar, which is slightly burnt. Perhaps this is its characteristic.

Emerald Jasper Laba Garlic

Pickling Laba garlic is a custom in northern China, especially in the north. 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 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.

③ Laba tofu

"Laba Tofu" is a folk specialty in Ganxian County, Anhui Province. Before Laba on the eve of the Spring Festival, that is, around the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household in Ganxian county will bask in tofu, which is called "Laba tofu" by the people.

④ 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, on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole family will eat Laba noodles.