How much do you know about Laba custom?
> > Laba porridge
The most famous folk activity of Laba Festival is eating Laba porridge. The patterns of Laba porridge in different places compete with each other, and the raw materials are different due to the different products and eating habits in different places. Generally, all kinds of Mi Dou jujubes and chestnuts are the main ones, such as rice, millet, red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, bonzi kernels, raisins, ginkgo nuts, water chestnuts, moss, roses, red beans and peanuts ... totaling more than dozens. Some places also add meat and so on. Taking its "eight" means "hair" and seeking good luck and blessing. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people began to get busy, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing stones, and picking carefully. Then they started to cook in the middle of the night, and then stewed with low heat until the next morning, when Laba porridge was cooked.
> > Laba noodles
Some places in the north that produce little or no rice eat laba noodles instead of laba porridge. The next day, we made dumplings with all kinds of fruits and vegetables, rolled the noodles, and ate Laba noodles for the whole family on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
> > Mairenfan
Xining Laba Festival does not drink porridge, but eats wheat kernel rice. On the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the freshly ground wheat kernels are cooked with beef and mutton, with green salt, ginger skin, pepper and other condiments, and porridge is cooked with slow fire overnight to make wheat kernel rice.
> > laba garlic ［garlic preserved in laba vinegar］
Pickling Laba garlic is a custom in North China, especially in North China. Laba garlic is garlic soaked in vinegar. Use purple garlic and rice vinegar to remove the old skin of garlic cloves, immerse them in rice vinegar, put them in a small jar and put them in a cold place until the garlic turns green.
> > Labacai
In Laba, people have to make Laba dishes besides Laba garlic. Marinate Chinese cabbage in a jar, seal the jar mouth, and keep it at room temperature until the New Year's Eve. The laba dish is white and green, crisp and refreshing, and sweet and slightly spicy in acid.
> > Laba tofu
Laba bean curd is a folk specialty in Qian county, Anhui province. Before and after Laba, every household in Qian county had to sun-dry bean curd. People called this naturally sun-dried bean curd "Laba bean curd".
> > Lababing
On the day before Laba Festival, people usually use steel pots to scoop water and freeze it. When Laba Festival comes, they will remove the ice and break it into pieces. It is said that the ice on this day is magical, and eating it will not cause a stomachache in the next year.
What are the legends of Laba?
There are several different legends about Laba Festival.
It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was trapped in the prison, it was in the cold weather. Zhu Yuanzhang, who was cold and hungry, actually dug out some seven or eight kinds of whole grains such as red beans, rice and red dates from the mouse hole in the prison. Zhu Yuanzhang boiled these things into porridge. Because it was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang called this pot of miscellaneous grains porridge Laba porridge. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor, he designated the day of disaster as Laba Festival.
Laba Festival stems from people's memory of Yue Fei, a loyal minister. At that time, Yue Fei led his troops to fight against gold in Zhuxian Town, which was in the severe winter of September. Yue Jiajun was poor in food and clothing, hungry and cold, and all the people sent porridge one after another. Yue Jiajun had a full meal of "thousands of porridge" sent by the people, and the result was a great victory. It was the eighth day of December. After Yue Fei's death, in order to commemorate him, people cooked porridge with miscellaneous grains and beans on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which finally became a custom.