Southern Lunar New Year's Day

Every year on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar, is China's traditional Lahai Festival , on this day, folk around the world to eat Lahai congee, soak Lahai garlic, eat Lahai rice, Lahai noodles and even Lahai tofu and other customary, traditional festivals and food customs are fused with each other, very interesting. Then let the Old Yellow Calendar for you to introduce, how the South Lahai Festival.

Sichuan

Sichuan Lapa congee practice a variety of sweet and salty spicy, while rural people eat more savory, mainly with soybeans, peanuts, diced meat, white radish, carrots boiled. Strangers come here to taste, although into the local customs, but it is difficult to get used to, nowadays the city people eat sweet porridge is also quite a lot, can be called different flavors.

Guangxi

In Guangxi Longsheng Autonomous County, Longji Township, Daliow Village, the local Pan Yao people have to make patties over the first eight days of the month of the custom. Local Yao people will be soaked and steamed glutinous rice raw materials, placed in a stone trough pounded into mud, and then kneaded and shaped into patties. The patties are very tasty and popular among the local people.

Zhejiang

Zhejiang people cook Lapa congee is generally walnut, pine nuts, lotus seeds, jujubes, cinnamon meat, lychee meat, etc., sweet and flavorful. It is said that this method of cooking congee is still handed down from Nanjing.

Guangdong

Lapa Festival is one of the traditional festivals in China, and there is a custom of eating Lapa congee in various places. Famous temples such as Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and Hanshan Temple in Suzhou still give congee on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, while in Guangdong, the atmosphere of Laha Festival is very light.

Why don't Cantonese people celebrate the Laha Festival? This is related to the geographic location and the living habits of Cantonese people since ancient times. Ancient Lingnan water town has not yet developed, the native life is not based on farming, are relying on the water fishing shrimp fishing fish to make a living, and brewing Laha congee required beans, cereals simply no one farming, so there will be no custom to eat these things.

Guangdong also has some people over the Lahai, but mainly in the Pearl River Delta area, is the Hakka people from the north to bring the custom, but used to do Lahai congee materials have been different, such as the north of the more millet, jujubes, and the south of the more glutinous rice, lilies, lotus seeds, and so on.

Jiangsu

Jiangsu people eat Laha congee sweet and salty. Water chestnuts, walnuts, pine nuts, gravy, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, bok choy and enoki mushrooms are added to the Laha congee. If you cook savory porridge, just add bok choy and oil in it.

Hunan

La Bark Festival day, the temples with incense grain, fruit, etc. to make porridge for the Buddha, called La Bark porridge, popular among the people. Changsha and other places in addition to eating Laha congee, also do Laha beans, become one of the family dishes. The countryside is often in this day to glutinous rice, bacon, jujubes, walnuts, etc. to do Lapa rice, Lapa beans are also made on this day is the best.

Changsha also "wax drums, spring grass. Waxing drums, farmers," the proverb, so the eighth day of December is commonly known as "Waxing Day". On this day, there will be a lot of people worship ancestors, will be cooked Laha congee first worship ancestors, and then distributed to family members to eat. The leftover Laha congee is also kept for a few days to eat, to take its "yearly surplus" good omen.

The Laha congee in Changsha is generally sweet, but the pickled Laha beans are basically salty. In southern Hunan and other places, there is also the custom of eating curd and making curd on Laha. In Xinhua and western Hunan and other places, Lahai this day there is the custom of drumming, called drive away Nuo, meaning to drive away the ghosts, to avoid the epidemic.

Fujian

Fuzhou's traditional Laha congee has an interesting feature: put a small lion made of several kinds of fruit on the congee, to take the meaning of avoiding evil spirits. In the past, people in Fuzhou usually started to make Laha congee on the evening of the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and stewed the congee all night long, and then the congee was boiled in the morning of the next day.

Some people will first carve the fruit into various shapes, the most interesting is to do "fruit lion". Crisp jujube pick kernel roasted and dried to make the body of the lion, half of the walnut kernel to make the lion's head, peach kernel to make the lion's feet, almonds to make the lion's tail, and then use the syrup to glue the various parts together, put on the surface of the congee. If the bowl is large, you can also set up a double lion, to take the meaning of "to avoid evil luck". In the big temple, there are also seen with date paste, bean paste, hawthorn and other colorful food pinched into the eight immortals, luohan, longevity and other small shapes.

Lapa congee boiled, the day early in the morning to worship the gods and ancestors, and then presented to friends and neighbors, sent out before noon. Finally, the whole family to share food, to be left a little bit, to take "year after year" omen. In the cold winter, drink a bowl of steaming, sweet and savory congee, drive cold and warm the stomach, the human body health is also beneficial.

Jiangxi

Nanchang people regard "Lahai" as a prelude to the New Year. From the beginning of Lahai, families should prepare peanuts, melon seeds, cured meat, shopping for new year's goods. Folk have "eaten Laha congee, the year to look forward to" said. "No need to pick the day of Laha, great luck and longevity Jin." In Nanchang, Laha is also a traditional auspicious day. On this day, Nanchang people in addition to drink "Lapa congee", but also often held a betrothal, marriage, marriage and so on "Lapa marriage".

Ancient Waxing Day customs in addition to sacrificing to the gods and ancestors, there is "Nuo". Nuo is unique to the culture of Jiangxi, is an expulsion of epidemic ghosts of the ceremony. Historical records, performers generally wear masks mounted as King Kong, Rex, square phase, etc., holding a knife and battle-axe, the crowd beat the drums to call for noise, epidemic, which is also called wax drums to drive away the epidemic, legend has it that can protect the children's peace and health. Later in the folk converted form, into eating fried beans, fried wheat, etc., no matter beans, wheat, to be fried and fried explosion, and then let the children eat some, called "bite the ghost".