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 living beings were suffering from physical illness and death. He was 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 bath meetings and chanted scriptures, and imitated the legendary story of a shepherdess offering chyle before Sakyamuni became a monk, making fragrant cereal porridge for the Buddha. 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". In addition, it is said that Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou, has a "stack rice building" for storing leftovers. Usually, monks dry leftovers every day, accumulate surplus food for one year, and cook Laba porridge for believers on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fude porridge", which means that eating it can increase happiness and longevity.

There is also the legend of Laba porridge. When Zhu Yuanzhang was a child, his family was poor, and he often suffered from food shortage. One day, when he came back from herding cattle, he was hungry and suddenly saw a mouse hole in the corner. He wanted to catch mice to satisfy his hunger, but unexpectedly he took out glutinous rice, millet, soybeans, red beans, wheat grains and peanuts. He washed these miscellaneous grains, cooked them into porridge and had a hearty meal. Later, when he became an emperor, he was tired of eating delicacies all day. I suddenly remembered the past when I was a child, and ordered people to imitate it, and the ministers tasted it, which was wonderful. Because this day is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang called this porridge Laba porridge. Later, it spread to the people, and it followed.

2. The story of eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival.

There are many legends about eating jiaozi during the Spring Festival. One is to commemorate the creation of Pangu and end the mixed state. The other is to use it as a homonym of "wonton", which means "five grains are abundant" In addition, it is said that eating jiaozi's folk language is related to Nu Wa's making people. When Nuwa soil caused people, the ears of loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to prevent the ear from being fixed, Nuwa put a small eye on the ear, tied it with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the mouth of the loess man to bite, so that the ear would be fine. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.

Jiaozi has become an indispensable program food for the Spring Festival. The reasons are as follows: First, jiaozi is shaped like an ingot. During the Spring Festival, people eat jiaozi, which sounds like "making money into treasure". Secondly, jiaozi has stuffing, which is convenient for people to put all kinds of auspicious things into stuffing and place their hopes for the new year.

When wrapping jiaozi, people usually wrap Jin Ruyi, sugar, peanuts, dates and chestnuts into stuffing. Eat the best and sugar, life will be sweeter in the coming year, eat peanuts, live a long and healthy life, eat dates and chestnuts, and have a baby early.

In some areas, when people eat jiaozi, they have to match some non-staple food to show their good luck. If you eat tofu, it symbolizes the happiness of the whole family; Eating persimmons symbolizes all the best; Eat three fresh vegetables. It symbolizes that Sanyang opens Thailand. People in Taiwan Province Province eat fish balls, meatballs and seaweed, symbolizing reunion and wealth.

Jiaozi has various fillings and making methods. Even the same kind of jiaozi has different ways of eating: Daur people in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang want to cook jiaozi with vermicelli broth. Then even the soup with jiaozi to eat; In some areas of Henan, jiaozi is cooked with noodles, which is called "gold thread penetrates gold ingot".

Jiaozi cuisine not only brings joy to people, but also becomes an important part of China's food culture.

Jiaozi originated in China and has a history of more than 2,600 years. It is said that jiaozi originated from Zhang Zhongjing, a "medical sage", who gave up medicine on the solstice of winter. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing of Nie, Nanyang County, during his stay in Changsha, saw that the villagers on both sides of the Baihe River were haggard with cold. Many people's ears are festering with cold, and their hearts can't bear it. They resigned to practice medicine for the people. When winter arrived, he asked his disciples to set up a shed and support a pot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and cook mutton, peppers and herbs for dispelling cold in one pot. When cooked, take it out and chop it up, and then cook it into an ear-shaped "pepper" soup. After everyone gave each corner a bowl of soup, his whole body's blood rushed up, his ears became hot and the cold disappeared. Frozen ears heal quickly. It has been handed down from generation to generation for more than 1700 years, and people eat Joule to the sun every winter to commemorate Teacher Zhang Zhongjing.

It is said that when Nu Wa pinched the earth and caused people, the ears of the loess people were easily frozen off because of the cold weather. In order to make the ear unable to be fixed, Nu Wa put a small eye on the human ear, tied the ear with a thin thread, and put the other end of the thread in the loess man's mouth to bite, so that the ear was complete. In order to commemorate the achievements of Nu Wa, ordinary people wrapped jiaozi, molded adult ears with flour, wrapped them with stuffing (thread) and ate them with their mouths.