Materials needed for Laba porridge

"Laba porridge" is also called Babao porridge, which has five flavors. The so-called "eight treasures" means "auspicious". But porridge does not have to be cooked with eight materials, three of which are essential, namely jujube, coix seed and water chestnut rice. Among them, red dates are peeled and mashed into mud to cook porridge, usually casserole. At the same time, the most important thing is to fry the barley and dye it red, and sprinkle it on Laba porridge when cooking. Both take the meaning of "vigorous development".

The origin of Laba porridge

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the Buddha's day of enlightenment. The four heavenly kings descended from the sky and offered gold, silver, glass, agate and other bowls filled with eight-treasure rice to the Buddha. After the Buddha accepted it, he combined the four bowls into one. In order to commemorate the Buddha's 80% Daoism on the first day of December, and to accept rice porridge offered by the four heavenly kings, some Buddhist temples will cook Laba porridge for the Buddha on this day and distribute ten good letters, so Laba porridge is also called "Buddha porridge". I also hope that people who like to eat Laba porridge can share the happiness of Buddha's enlightenment and grow up with the blessing of Buddha.

The custom of Laba porridge prevailed in Tang and Song Dynasties. In the Song Dynasty, Father Meng wrote "Dream of Tokyo", which recorded: "On the eighth day of the eighth day, three or five monks and nuns in the streets and lanes joined forces to recite the Buddha ... major temples held Buddhist bathing parties and sent seven treasures and five flavors of porridge and disciples, which was called Laba porridge. Everyone is a Japanese family and also eats fruit porridge. " In addition, Wu's Dream also said: "On December 8, the temple was called Laba porridge, and all temples had five kinds of porridge, called Laba porridge, also called Buddha porridge."

In the Qing Dynasty, folks prepared Laba porridge to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and distributed it to relatives and friends as a blessing. They also imitate Buddhism and give it to poor families. Eating Laba porridge is a court activity. The emperor and queen sent laba porridge to the minister of civil and military affairs, and also distributed rice fruits to major temples. In the old society, it was the custom of every household to eat Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Even the owner would feed a few spoonfuls to the chickens and dogs at home and put a few mouthfuls on the branches of flowers and fruits, thinking that this would surely lead to the prosperity of six animals and a bumper harvest of fruits. For example, as the nursery rhymes say, "Laba porridge, laba rice, chickens lay eggs after eating". Fu Cha Dunchong's "Yanjing Nianji Laba porridge": "Laba porridge is made of yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut, red beans and peeled jujube paste. Boil in water, externally dye peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts and white sugar, brown sugar and grapes.

Introduction of Laba porridge in various places

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, Laba avoids eating vegetables on this day, saying that eating vegetables will lead to a lot of weeds in 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".