The custom of eating Laba porridge during the Spring Festival shows people's desire for warmth, perfection, harmony, auspiciousness, health, cooperation, nutrition, indifference, convenience, gratitude, joy (porridge instead of tea) and affinity.

First, the implication of Laba porridge

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is called Laba in folk customs, is the first festival before the Spring Festival. Since then, the annual flavor has become increasingly rich.

Laba has been eating Laba porridge for thousands of years in China. The twelfth lunar month is the year. All the year round, you must eat all the whole grains and vegetables, so that you can have comprehensive nutrition. This is to pray for human health and family prosperity!

The second is to eat and harvest everything. After the twelfth lunar month, it will be the new year. When eating Laba porridge, you will eat all the grains and vegetables that grew in the field that year, and you will not abandon anything, which shows that farmers love everything they have harvested on the land. I hope that all crops will grow well and be enriched in the new year.

Second, the origin of the custom of drinking Laba porridge

1. The origin of the custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba day is related to the story of Buddha becoming a Buddha.

Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, whose real name is Gautama Siddharta, is the son of King Sufan of Kapilawei (now Nepal) in northern India. When he was young, he saw that all living beings were tortured by birth, old age, illness and death. In order to seek the true meaning of life and the liberation of life and death, he abandoned the royal life and became a monk.

He spent six years in the snow-capped mountains, often eclipsing one wheat and one hemp. Later, I found that asceticism was not the way out, so I gave up asceticism and went down the mountain. At this time, a shepherdess saw that he was weak, so she cooked chyle (made of milk and grain) to support him.

Sakyamuni's physical strength was restored, and then he spent seven days under the Bodhi tree. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he saw the stars at night and became a Buddha.

In order not to forget the six-year sufferings of the Buddha before he became a Taoist, and to commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment and becoming a Buddha on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the ancient Indians ate mixed porridge as a memorial on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, Laba Festival was introduced to China from ancient India, and Laba became the Buddha's enlightenment day.

Since Buddhism was introduced to China, various monasteries have made porridge out of fragrant valleys and fruits to give to disciples and faithful men and women.

On the day of Laba, various monasteries held a ritual meeting, imitating the story of a herdess offering chyle before the Buddha became a Taoist, and cooking porridge with fragrant grains and fruits for the Buddha, named Laba porridge. Some monasteries held bowls by monks before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and almed along the street to cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates and nuts into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Everyone thinks that eating it can be blessed by the Buddha, so poor people call it "Buddha porridge"

Generally, the Buddhist porridge in the temple is delicious and plentiful to meet the needs of believers who come to the temple to attend the memorial ceremony. Some believers came specially for "porridge", thinking that Laba's porridge for the Buddha was auspicious, not only for their own consumption, but also for their families to enjoy.

Year after year, the tradition of making Laba porridge in monasteries has spread widely to the people, thus gradually forming the custom of celebrating Laba Festival.

2. The folk people drink Laba porridge on Laba Day, and the written records began in the Song Dynasty.

Xu Ke's "Clear Barnyard Notes" says: "Laba porridge began in the Song Dynasty, and on the eighth day of December, the temples in Tokyo boiled it with seven treasures and five flavors and glutinous rice, and others followed suit." The composition of Laba porridge is described.

in the southern song dynasty, Wu zimu's Meng Liang Lu said, "on the eighth day of this month, the temple was called Laba. Temples such as Dasha have five-flavor porridge called Laba porridge. " It can be seen that drinking Laba porridge on Laba Day is a custom in Buddhism.

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is regarded by the Buddhist community as the day of Buddha's enlightenment. Monks and nuns in the temple often cook "eight-treasure porridge" with eight kinds of food, such as glutinous rice, sesame seeds, Coicis Semen, longan, red dates, mushrooms and lotus seeds, and invite the surrounding mountain people to join the holy communion and give alms to the people, old and young, to show their respect for the Buddha.

Later, it gradually became the folk self-cooked eight-treasure porridge (called Laba porridge) to eat. For that custom of eating Laba porridge.

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the ancient temples would take fragrant grains and fruits and cook them into porridge to worship the Buddha. People also followed the example of cooking such porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to eliminate disasters and diseases. In the Song Dynasty, the folk Laba porridge in Hangzhou was cooked with "walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmons, chestnuts and the like" and rice (see "Old Stories of Wulin"), and it was popular everywhere in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

That's why the meaning and customs of Laba porridge came. I wonder if you have eaten Laba porridge during the Spring Festival?

The beans in Laba porridge are rich in protein, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals, and the lysine content is also rich, which can form an effective nutritional complement when matched with grains such as rice.

Laba porridge is not only nutritious, but also contains auspicious meaning, and it tastes delicious! ! !