(1) Laba porridge

Laba porridge, also known as "seven treasures and five flavors porridge", "Buddha porridge" and "everyone's meal", is a kind of porridge made of various ingredients. 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.

(2) Laba vinegar

The custom of soaking garlic with vinegar on Laba Day is called Laba vinegar. Laba vinegar should be soaked on New Year's Day, jiaozi should be eaten on the first day, and jiaozi should be a vegetarian. You should be a vegetarian for a year, and dip it in Laba vinegar, which will have a unique taste. "Laba vinegar" not only tastes mellow, but also does not go bad after a long time.

(3) Laba garlic

Pickled Laba garlic is a traditional snack mainly popular in northern China, and it is a festival food custom of Laba Festival. Laba garlic material is actually very simple, that is, 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.

(4) 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.

(5) Laba tofu

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, 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.

Usually hang the straw rope in a ventilated place to dry, and you can take it off when you eat it. Generally, it can be hung for three months without deterioration or taste change. You can eat it alone or stir-fry it with meat. When people in Yixian entertain distinguished guests, they also carve them into animals and flowers, pour sesame oil, mix with seasonings such as onions, ginger and garlic, and make them into cold dishes, which becomes a feast.

(6) Laba noodles

Laba noodles Laba noodles, seasonal food of Laba Festival. Traditional pasta is popular in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. In Chengcheng area around Weibei, Shaanxi Province, porridge is generally not drunk on Laba Festival. Every year on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household eats several bowls of laba noodles.

Noodles and various beans (mainly 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.

(7) Wheat grains and rice

Xining Laba Festival does not drink porridge, but eats 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.

2. Taboo of Laba Festival

(1) Eating Laba porridge at noon is not enough.

The habit of eating Laba porridge is also taboo in some places, that is, eating Laba porridge at noon is not enough. The night before Laba Festival every year, people start cooking Laba porridge and wait until the next morning. If they can't finish eating, they can share it with their relatives and friends, but not after noon. There is a saying that "eat porridge early and harvest food early next year".

(2) Don't move in the twelfth lunar month

From the perspective of geomantic omen, it is cold in December. If you rush into a new house, the cold atmosphere will block the bustling atmosphere at home, which sounds reasonable in natural science. However, with the improvement of home technology, many houses have implemented whole-house heating, and it is not necessary to invite some friends to sit in the new house as in the past, which is popular. The reason why there is a saying that "you can't move in the twelfth lunar month" is nothing more than fear that people's hands and feet are cold and bad for your health. Now, for people who have heating at home, this is no longer a problem.

(3) Don't go back to your mother's house on Laba Festival.

According to the old saying, there are always a few days in a year when a married daughter can't go back to her family. This is taboo and special. It will be unlucky for my mother-in-law to go back to her mother's house in Laba. Another way of saying it: "Laba doesn't eat her mother's food, and her ancestors can't afford it", which means she will be poor.