Originally one: in honor of Yue Fei
There is a saying that the anti-Jin dynasty hero Yue Fei, led by the Department stationed in the town of Zhuxian, at this time when the cold winter, Yue's army food and clothing do not help, starvation and freezing, the people to the Yue family army to send congee, the soldiers eat a meal of the people to send a "thousand congee," the results of the great victory and return, the day is the first eight days of December, after the death of Yue Fei. December 8, Yue Fei died, the people in order to commemorate him, every Lunar New Year's Eve, will be to the grain beans and fruits to cook porridge, the back of the day will be designated as "Lunar New Year's Day", to eat porridge known as "Lunar New Year's Day porridge".
From the second: shepherdess milk porridge to save Buddha
The legend says that Buddha Shakyamuni once practiced in the mountains for many years without results, and due to the lack of food, starvation, skinny as a bone, and one day he went to the river to bathe, bathing, but because of the weakness of the body can not climb back to the shore, when a shepherdess from the side of the passing, he pulled him to the shore, gave him a bowl of porridge boiled with rice, chestnuts, etc. After eating, he was energized. The Buddha ate it and was so energized that he came to enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. This day happened to be the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Since then, the Buddhist disciples will be the day called "Buddha into the Taoist Festival", at the same time in the day, the congee as a good medicine, the temple every year in the day of the congee for the Buddha, and to the world of charity, affected by this, China's folk have gradually formed the Lahai Festival eating congee custom.
"Dictionary" that holds this view: "Lahai, the Buddhist festival, according to legend, the eighth day of the twelfth month of the summer calendar is the day of Sakyamuni, China's Han Chinese area Buddhist temples are often held on this day to recite sutras and other commemorative activities"
From the third: to commemorate the Ming dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang
Ming dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang in the emperor before he did a period of time, then the prison, and the emperor's father, Zhu Yuanzhang, had a period of time. Prison for a period of time, when it was cold days, cold and hungry Zhu Yuanzhang in the prison rat hole planing to find some red beans, rice, jujubes and other seven or eight kinds of grains, he boiled these things into a porridge, that day is the eighth day of the eighth month of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Yuanzhang will be beautifully named this pot of cereal porridge for the Lunar New Year porridge. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang pacified the world, sitting in the north towards the south as the emperor, in order to commemorate that special day in prison, he then set the day as Lahai Festival, the day he ate the porridge of mixed grains formally named Lahai congee.
Other sayings
For the origin of Lahai Festival, there are different folk views, in addition to these three, there are "lazy couples sitting on the mountain said", "congee to sacrifice Shennong said", " Sacrifice to the god of eight wax said" and so on. I can only say that the origin of the Lahai Festival, the different, unchanged is a cultural tradition of inheritance.
Taboo on Lahai Festival
Taboo One: Lahai Festival does not go back to her mother's home
In some traditional customs, some festivals married women are not appropriate to go back to her mother's home, said taboo, into the month of Lahai, the first can not be the mother's home is the day of the Lahai Festival, the legend says that Lahai on this day back to the mother's home will be inauspicious for the mother-in-law,. Another saying: "Laha do not eat the mother's family rice, grandparents can not afford", meaning that will be poor their own home. Some sayings even believe that in the month of Lunar New Year, the first eight, eighteen, twenty-eight are not allowed to spend in the mother's home.
Nowadays, there are no special taboos, and you can go back to your mother's house if you need to.
Taboo 2: do not move in the month of Lunar
Feng Shui, Lunar month, heavy yin, cold, if you move into a new house in Lunar, the cold atmosphere will block the home of the atmosphere of prosperity,.
Now the saying: you can move if you have the need to move, and you can also invite friends to your home to warm up and relax after the move.
Taboo three: eat Lapa congee but no lunch
Some regions eat Lapa congee is taboo, eating Lapa congee but no lunch, generally in the evening before the Lapa Festival began to boil Lapa congee, the next day in the morning to eat, eat it if you can not finish it can be divided among friends and relatives left and right neighbors to eat, generally not eat the lunch, there is a saying called "early food congee, food in the next year! early harvest".
Now: no special taboos.