Shanxi’s Laba porridge, also known as eight-treasure porridge, is mainly made of millet, with cowpeas, adzuki beans, mung beans, jujubes, and sticky yellow rice, rice, glutinous rice, etc. In the southeastern Shanxi region, on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, adzuki beans, red beans, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, peanuts, glutinous rice, persimmons, and water are used to cook porridge, also called sweet rice, which is also one of the food customs.
Northern Shaanxi Plateau On Laba Day, in addition to using a variety of rice and beans, various dried fruits, tofu and meat must be added to make porridge. It is usually cooked in the morning and can be either sweet or salty, depending on one's taste. If it is eaten at lunch, some noodles should be cooked in the porridge and the whole family can have a meal together. After eating, the porridge should be smeared on the door, the stove and the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters and welcome a bumper agricultural harvest in the coming year. According to folklore, it is forbidden to eat vegetables on Laba day, as there will be many weeds in the crops. People in southern Shaanxi eat mixed porridge during Laba, which is divided into "five flavors" and "eight flavors". The former is cooked with rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, ginkgo nuts and beans. The latter uses the above five raw materials plus diced meat, tofu, radish, and condiments. On Laba Day, in addition to eating Laba porridge, people also use the porridge to worship ancestors and granaries.
Gansu people traditionally cook Laba porridge with grains and vegetables. After cooking, it is not only eaten by the family, but also distributed to neighbors and used to feed livestock. In Lanzhou and Baiyin City areas, Laba porridge is cooked very carefully, using rice, beans, red dates, ginkgo, lotus seeds, raisins, dried apricots, dried melons, walnut kernels, green and red shreds, white sugar, diced meat, etc. After cooking, it is first used to worship the door god, kitchen god, earth god, and wealth god, and pray for good weather and abundant harvests in the coming year; then it is distributed to relatives and neighbors, and finally the whole family enjoys it. The Wuwei area of ??Gansu Province pays attention to "vegetarian Laba", eating thick rice, lentil rice or thick rice. After cooking, it is eaten with fried rice dumplings and twists. The folk custom calls it "lentil porridge soaked rice".
Ningxia people generally use lentils, soybeans, red beans, broad beans, black beans, rice, and potatoes to make porridge, plus "wheat ears" made of wheat noodles or buckwheat noodles cut into rhombus-shaped willow leaves. Or make the "bird's head" into a small round egg, and add green onion oil before taking it out of the pan. On this day, the whole family only eats Laba rice and no vegetables.
Although the majority of Xining people in Qinghai are Han, they do not eat porridge in Laba, but wheat kernel rice. Boil the newly ground wheat kernels with beef and mutton, add green salt, ginger peel, pepper, grass fruit, Miaoxiang and other condiments. Simmer over a slow fire overnight until the meat and wheat blend into a chylo-like shape. Uncover the pot in the morning. The aroma is fragrant and delicious to eat.
In Shandong's "Confucian Food System", there are two types of "Laba porridge". One is made from rice kernels, longan, lotus seeds, lilies, chestnuts, red dates, japonica rice, etc., and is filled with Some "porridge fruits" are also added to the bowl, which are mainly fruits carved into various shapes for decoration. This kind of porridge is specially eaten by the masters of Confucius and Twelve Houses. The other kind is cooked with rice, meat slices, cabbage, tofu, etc., and is given to the servants in Confucius' mansion.
Henan people eat Laba rice, which is cooked with eight raw materials including millet, mung beans, cowpeas, wheat kernels, peanuts, red dates and corn. After it is cooked, some brown sugar and walnut kernels are added. The porridge is thick and fragrant. I wish you a good harvest in the coming year.
In the Jiangsu region, there are two types of Laba porridge, sweet and salty, and the cooking methods are the same. It’s just that salty porridge is made with vegetables and oil. When Suzhou people cook Laba porridge, they add mushrooms, water chestnuts, walnut kernels, pine nuts, gorgon seeds, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, green vegetables, enoki mushrooms, etc. Li Fu, a Suzhou scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "The porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was passed down from the Brahma Kingdom. It is blended with seven treasures and mixed with five flavors."
Zhejiang people generally cook Laba porridge with walnut kernels, pine nuts, Gorgon seeds, lotus seeds, red dates, longan meat, lychee meat, etc. are sweet and delicious. Eat them to pray for a long life. It is said that this method of cooking porridge was spread from Nanjing, and it contains several legends.
Sichuan has a large population. Laba porridge can be made in a variety of ways, including sweet, salty and spicy. Rural people eat more salty porridge, which is mainly made with soybeans, peanuts, diced meat, white radish and carrots. Foreigners come here to taste it. Although they follow the local customs, it is difficult to get used to it. Nowadays, many urban people eat sweet porridge, which can be said to have different flavors. Laba and porridge are closely related, and when you drink porridge in Laba, you can drink it in a variety of ways and at a high level.
Chinese people love Laba porridge so much. Apart from food customs, there are indeed some scientific reasons. Cao Yanshan, a nutritionist in the Qing Dynasty, wrote "Porridge Book", which gave a detailed and clear explanation of the fitness and nutritional functions of Laba porridge. It regulates nutrition and is easy to absorb. It is a good "diet therapy" product. It has the functions of harmonizing the stomach, tonifying the spleen, nourishing the heart, clearing the lungs, It has the functions of nourishing the kidneys, benefiting the liver, quenching thirst, improving eyesight, laxative and calming the nerves. These have been confirmed by modern medicine. For the elderly, Laba porridge is also a beneficial delicacy, but they should also be careful not to drink too much. In fact, not only Laba, but also eating porridge is of great benefit to the elderly. There are also many varieties of porridge, which can vary from person to person. You can choose according to your needs and eat them as appropriate. (Fujian Hotline)
Laba Tofu
"Laba Tofu" is a folk specialty in Qianxian County, Anhui Province. During Laba on the eve of the Spring Festival, that is, around the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household in Qianxian County makes it. To make dry tofu, this naturally dried tofu is called "Laba Tofu" among the people.
Emerald Jasper Laba Garlic
Soaking Laba Garlic is a custom in the north, especially in North China. As the name suggests, garlic is brewed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the ingredients are very simple, just vinegar and garlic cloves. The method is also extremely simple. Put the peeled garlic cloves into a container that can be sealed, such as a jar or bottle, then pour vinegar into it, seal it and put it in a cold place. Slowly, the garlic soaked in vinegar will turn green, and eventually it will become completely green, like emerald jasper.
Cooking "Five Beans"
In some places, it is not called "Laba Porridge" but "Five Beans" is cooked during Laba Festival. Some cook it on Laba Day, and some do it on Laba Day. It is cooked on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, and some "bird heads" are made with flour and cooked with rice and beans (five kinds of beans). It is said that if people eat "sparrow heads" in Laba, the sparrows will have headaches and will not harm their crops in the coming year. The cooked "five beans" are not only eaten by oneself, but also given to relatives and neighbors. Warm it and eat it with meals every day until the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, which symbolizes more than enough for many years.
Laba Noodles
In some places in northern my country that do not produce or produce little rice, people do not eat Laba porridge, but eat Laba noodles. The next day, make sautee with various fruits and vegetables, roll out the noodles, and on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole family will eat Laba noodles.
The most important festival of the twelfth lunar month is the eighth day of December. It was called "Laba Day" in ancient times and is commonly known as "Laba Festival". Since the pre-Qin Dynasty, the Laba Festival has been used to offer sacrifices to ancestors and gods, praying for a good harvest and good luck.
It is said that the enlightenment day of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was also on the eighth day of December, so Laba is also a festival for Buddhists and is called "Buddha's Enlightenment Day".
On Laba Day, there is a custom of eating Laba porridge. Laba porridge is also called "Seven Treasures and Five Flavors Porridge". The history of eating Laba porridge in our country has been more than a thousand years. It first started in the Song Dynasty. On every Laba day, no matter the court, government, monasteries or ordinary people's homes, they must make Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became even more popular. In the palace, the emperor, empress, prince, etc. would give Laba porridge to the ministers of civil and military affairs and the attendant maids, and distribute rice, fruits, etc. to various temples for the monks to eat. Among the people, every family also makes Laba porridge to worship their ancestors; at the same time, families gather together to eat it and give it to relatives and friends.
There are many different styles of Laba porridge in various parts of China. Among them, Peiping's is the most particular. There are many items mixed with white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, hazelnuts, grapes, ginkgo, water chestnuts, green hair, roses, red beans, peanuts...the total is no less. Twenty kinds. People get busy on the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing cores, sorting and then starting to cook at midnight, then simmering over low heat until the early morning of the next day. I'm done.
More sophisticated people will first carve the fruits into human shapes, animals, and patterns, and then boil them in a pot. The more distinctive thing is to put "fruit lion" in Laba porridge. Fruit lion is a lion-shaped object made of several kinds of fruits. The crispy dates with the date cores removed and dried are used as the lion's body, half a walnut kernel is used as the lion's head, the peach kernel is used as the lion's feet, and the sweet almond is used as the lion's tail. Then stick them together with sugar and put them in the porridge bowl, just like a little lion. If the bowl is larger, you can put two lions or four small lions on it. What's even more exquisite is to use date paste, bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other foods of various colors to make statues of the Eight Immortals, the Longevity Star and the Arhat. This kind of decorated Laba porridge can only be seen on the altar tables of large temples in the past.
After the Laba porridge is cooked, you must first worship the gods and ancestors. If you want to give it to relatives and friends later, you must send it out before noon. Finally, the whole family eats it. Leftover Laba porridge, if you keep it for a few days and still have it left over, it is a good sign, which means "more than enough every year". If you give porridge to poor people, it will be a good thing for yourself.
Laba porridge also has witchcraft effects among the people. If there are flowers and fruit trees planted in the yard, you should also apply some Laba porridge on the branches. I believe it will bear more fruits in the coming year.
On the day of Laba, in addition to worshiping ancestors and gods, there are also people mourning the subjugation of the country and expressing grief.
The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the Laba Festival in China. In rural areas of China, many farmers still retain the custom of drinking "Laba porridge" on this day. (The twelfth lunar month is also called the twelfth lunar month: because it was freezing and snowy, farmers could not go out to farm and could only cook bacon, sausages and other foods at home).
It turns out that "Laba porridge" is no ordinary porridge, there is a story behind it...
Once upon a time, there was such a family, the old couple and the young couple lived a happy life. The old couple loves the young couple very much and doesn't let the young couple do any work because they are afraid that they will tire out their bodies. Therefore, the young couple spent the whole day opening their mouths and stretching out their hands for food, without doing anything else.
Later, the old couple passed away. Because the young couple couldn't work, they ended up sitting on their hands and devouring all the food at home. In the end, they even sold their house, leaving only half a rotten hut. Winter is coming, and the young couple is freezing and hungry, hiding in the hut and shivering. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, they were so hungry that they swept out some grains from the corner of the hut and cooked some gruel to satisfy their hunger. When they were about to eat the porridge, a strong wind suddenly blew down the hut and crushed the young couple to death.
People know this, and in order to let the children remember this lesson, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, they cook a pot of porridge with various grains and tell this story while eating.
Reference materials: www.baidu.com