Laba Festival was originally a Buddhist festival. According to Indian Buddhist scriptures, before becoming a Buddha, Sakyamuni once became a monk, but after six years of ascetic life, he still couldn't get rid of all kinds of worries about life mentally. At this time, he was hungry and exhausted to the extreme. Fortunately, a herdess brought him chyle (milk porridge) to restore his strength. Then he bathed in the river, washed away the dirt on his body, and finally meditated under the bodhi tree for 7 days and 7 nights, and finally realized to become a Buddha. Therefore, the Buddhist envoy commemorates this day as "Daoism Festival". After Indian Buddhism was introduced to China, Buddhists in China believed that Sakyamuni became a Buddha on the eighth day of December (the twelfth lunar month), so he took Laba as the festival of enlightenment. In ancient times, on this day, all monasteries chanted sutras to commemorate it, and offered chyle to the Buddha in imitation of the shepherdess, and cooked porridge with various fragrant valleys and fruits, which was called "Laba porridge".
Later, with the passage of time, this custom expanded from temples to the people. According to "Tokyo Dream Record", in the Northern Song Dynasty, on this day, all monasteries were supposed to have a Buddhist bath, and seven kinds of porridge were cooked for the Buddha and given to the donors. Japanese folk families also cook porridge with fruit miscellaneous materials. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor gave the civil and military officials laba porridge cooked in the palace on this day, and its materials were naturally very particular. In the Qing Dynasty, this custom became even more popular. Not only did every family cook Laba porridge, but also rich people made various kinds of birds and insects with fruit materials to decorate porridge noodles and give them to each other. According to the practice of the Qing Dynasty, since the Qianlong period, the Laba porridge given by the emperor to the civil and military officials was cooked in the Lama Temple. In the Lama Temple, there is a big copper pot with a diameter of about two meters and a depth of one and a half meters, which is especially exquisite for porridge, and it is necessary to add cream and diced mutton. The fourth and fifth pots are for the officials and lamas. The sixth pot is given to ordinary people, so the quality is naturally much worse. It is said that this big copper pot for porridge is still preserved next to the West Drum Tower in the front yard of Yonghe Palace, which can also be regarded as a cultural relic.
Every Laba Festival, in addition to cooking Laba porridge, there are also customs such as soaking Laba garlic and brewing Laba wine. Laba garlic is peeled and soaked in rice vinegar. After a month, the garlic is light green and delicious. It is said that it can drive away diseases and avoid plague after eating. Laba wine is a kind of wine brewed from glutinous rice in Laba Festival. After the New Year, the wine is dark red, crystal clear and translucent, and the wine is full of flavor, and the lips and teeth remain fragrant after drinking. Unfortunately, this kind of folk brewed wine is generally small in quantity, only for home use, and it is difficult to buy in the market.
Meaning: It means very prosperous.