What festival is Laba? Why do you want to drink Laba porridge?

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".

Legend 1: Laba Festival is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month (December), which originated in the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was in trouble and suffering in prison, he was cold and hungry. Zhu Yuanzhang actually dug up some seven or eight kinds of miscellaneous grains such as red beans, rice and red dates from the mouse 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.

Legend 2: On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people in China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. It is said that 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. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that they can increase their happiness and longevity after eating them. It can be seen that the monks at that time cherished the virtue of food.

Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and then the materials were gradually increased. People in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully compiled "Old Wulin Stories" and said, "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in Jiangnan, Northeast and Northwest China still have the custom of eating Laba porridge, which is rare in Guangdong. With different materials, glutinous rice, red beans, jujube, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies and so on are commonly used to cook sweet porridge. Longan, longan and candied fruit are all ripe. Eating a steaming bowl of Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, which can really increase happiness and prolong life.

Legend 3: 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.

Legend 4: Laba Festival originates from people's memory of Yue Fei, a loyal minister. 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.

Legend 5: Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, and all migrant workers were ordered to come. They can't go home for many years, and they rely on their families to send them food. 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.

Legend 6: According to legend, the old couple lived a hard and frugal life and accumulated a fortune, but their precious son failed to live up to expectations and married a daughter-in-law is not virtuous. They soon lost their wealth. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the young couple were cold and hungry. Fortunately, with the help of villagers and neighbors, a pot of "mixed porridge" was cooked with rice, noodles, beans and vegetables. It means: "Eat mixed porridge and remember the lesson." This porridge made the young couple get rid of their bad habits and embark on the right path. By living hard, their days are getting better day by day. The popular custom of Laba porridge is that people follow it to warn future generations.

Laba Festival custom

Custom 1: 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.

Custom 2: Eat Laba porridge

Laba porridge is also called "Qibao Wuwei porridge". China has a history of drinking Laba porridge for 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.

There are many kinds of Laba porridge in China. Among them, Beiping is the most exquisite, and there are many items mixed in white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, hazelnuts, grapes, ginkgo, water chestnut, moss, roses, red beans and peanuts. , a total of not less than twenty kinds. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people began to get busy, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing stones and picking carefully, then cooking in the middle of the night and stewing with low fire until Laba porridge was cooked the next morning.

More sophisticated people should first carve fruits into human shapes, animals and patterns, and then cook them in a pot. More distinctive is to put "fruit lion" in Laba porridge. Fruit lion is a lion made of several kinds of fruits, with peeled and dried crisp dates as the lion's body, half walnut kernel as the lion's head, peach kernel as the lion's foot and sweet almond as the lion's tail. Then stick them together with sugar and put them in a porridge bowl, just like a little lion. If the bowl is bigger, you can put two lions or four little lions. More exquisite, it is made of jujube paste, red bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other foods in various colors, and kneaded into statues of the Eight Immortals, the birthday girl, Luohan and so on. This decorative Laba porridge can only be seen on the altar of a big temple in the past.

Laba porridge:

1, 120kg potatoes and millet are boiled half-cooked, 20kg garlic is mashed, and Zhaofu brand original butter is added.

2, melon slices 35 kg cabbage shreds 25 kg green pepper shreds 15 kg chicken essence 25 kg as ingredients.

3. Add proper amount of water and seasonings: monosodium glutamate, salt, yellow wine, pepper, etc. Then simmer.

4. Cook until the steam stops for a few minutes, and then stew for about three times.

Custom 3: Eat 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. In recent years, purple garlic has been rare in the market. Soak it out with ordinary garlic. Although the petals are big, it tastes neither crisp nor purple. What about garlic growers? The yield of purple garlic is low, 20% less than that of ordinary garlic. Who will plant it? Purple garlic is occasionally seen in the market, and it will be listed after wheat harvest, and the price is one-third higher than that of ordinary garlic. Isn't this the same? The harvest is small, and it may fetch a good price!

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. It's actually just a habit. It's better to eat delicious than to love it!