What is the significance of Laba Festival?

Laba Festival is one of the most important festivals in December of the lunar calendar in China. It's on the eighth day of December. It was called Laba Festival in ancient times, commonly known as Laba Festival. The twelfth lunar month is the end of the year. People in ancient times had nothing to do, so they went out hunting. The following is the meaning of Laba Festival that I carefully recommend, for reference only, welcome to read!

The significance of Laba Festival

(1) Express good wishes for a bumper harvest and good luck.

Laba Festival, in the name of "La Worship", expresses a kind of good wishes of people who have worked in agriculture for one year for the new year. On the surface, people use the harvested crops to worship their ancestors, and thank them for their agricultural fruits and their blessings in production and life. At the same time, they pray for good weather, bumper crops, prosperous livestock and developed careers in the coming year.

Show the joy of celebrating the agricultural harvest.

Laba porridge, the symbolic custom of Laba Festival, is actually a big display of agricultural harvest results. As Lao She said in the article "Spring Festival in Beijing": "Laba Festival, people have to cook Laba porridge at home and in temples. This special porridge is used to worship ancestors, but when you think about it, it is a pride of agricultural society-this porridge is made of all kinds of rice, all kinds of beans and all kinds of dried fruits (almonds, walnuts, melon seeds, lychee meat, lotus seeds, peanuts, raisins, water chestnut rice ...). This is not porridge but a small agricultural exhibition. "

This kind of Laba porridge, which mainly reflects the rich and comprehensive food of farmers, can truly reflect the gratifying scene of agricultural harvest, the joy of people creating a better life, and the special interest of people enjoying a happy life.

The traditional festivals in China are always reserved and reserved, and the circle is generally limited to the joy among family members. However, Laba Festival seems to be out of the small circle of family members, and people have established a wider emotional connection through the gift and acceptance of Laba porridge.

In Song Dynasty, whenever Laba Festival, Laba porridge was cooked in court, government, temples or people's homes. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became more popular. At court, emperors, queens and princes send laba porridge to ladies-in-waiting and ministers of civil and military affairs, and distribute rice and dried fruits to monasteries for monks to eat.

In the folk, every family should also sacrifice Laba porridge to their ancestors, and at the same time, family groups get together to eat and give it to relatives and friends. With the help of agricultural achievements of land production, Laba Festival has effectively promoted the communication between people and the harmony of interpersonal relationships.

(4) Including the pursuit of good health.

Farming requires a strong body, and Laba porridge has many health functions. The porridge spectrum written by Cao Yanshan, a nutritionist in the Qing Dynasty, made a detailed and clear record of the health care and nutritional functions of Laba porridge. It regulates nutrition and is easy to be absorbed. It is a good dietotherapy product and has the functions of regulating stomach, invigorating spleen, nourishing heart, clearing away lung-heat, benefiting kidney, benefiting liver, quenching thirst, improving eyesight, relaxing bowels and calming nerves.

In fact, Laba drinking porridge is just a symbol and plays an advocacy role. Drinking porridge at ordinary times is also good for health. Just like people set up Arbor Day when it is suitable for planting trees in spring. During Laba Festival, the whole country loves to eat Laba porridge. Drinking porridge is good for health, which can be said to be one of the important reasons.

(5) Open the time window of busy farming in the new year.

After "beginning of winter", the countryside turned into a "winter leisure" period. More than two months from beginning of winter to the Great Cold is a good time for farmers to recharge their batteries. Because as soon as the slight cold is over, every household will begin to prepare for the "New Year" and the New Year.

Legend of Laba Festival

Legend one

Legend has it that Laba Festival comes from the custom of "dressing up as a ghost with red beans". Legend has it that Zhuan Xu, one of the five emperors in ancient times, turned his three sons into evil spirits after his death and came out to scare children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and were afraid of ghosts and gods. They believe that adults and children suffer from strokes and poor health because of the spectre of epidemics. These evil spirits are fearless, only afraid of red (red) beans, so there is a saying that "red beans play ghosts." Therefore, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, porridge is cooked with adzuki beans and adzuki beans to dispel the epidemic and welcome the auspicious.

Legend 2

Laba Festival is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Legend has it that it originated in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang was hungry and cold when he was in trouble and suffering in prison. Zhu Yuanzhang actually dug up seven or eight kinds of miscellaneous grains such as red beans, rice and red dates from the mouse hole in the prison. Zhu Yuanzhang cooked these things into porridge. Because it is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang euphemistically called this pot of miscellaneous grains porridge Laba porridge. I enjoyed a delicious meal. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang pacified the world and became the emperor facing south. In order to commemorate that special day in prison, he designated it as Laba Festival and officially named the miscellaneous grains porridge he ate that day Laba porridge.

Legend 3

Legend has it that Laba Festival originated from people's nostalgia for Yue Fei, a loyal minister. At that time, Yue Fei led troops to resist gold in Zhuxian town, which was in the severe winter of September. Yue Jiajun had no food and clothing, was hungry and cold, and the people sent porridge one after another. Yue Jiajun had a hearty meal of "thousand 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.

Legend four

Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, and all migrant workers were ordered to come. They can't go home for many years, and they rely on their families to send them food. Some migrant workers whose homes are separated by water in Qian Shan are unable to deliver meals, resulting in many migrant workers starving to death at the site of the Great Wall. One year, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, migrant workers who had no food jointly accumulated a few handfuls of coarse grains, put them in a pot and cooked them into porridge. Everyone drank a bowl and finally starved to death under the Great Wall. In order to mourn the migrant workers who starved to death at the Great Wall site, people eat Laba porridge every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a memorial.

Legend five

According to legend, the old couple lived a hard life and saved a lot of money, but their precious son didn't live up to expectations and it was not virtuous to marry a daughter-in-law. They soon lost their wealth. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the young couple were cold and hungry. Fortunately, villagers and neighbors helped to cook a pot of "hybrid porridge" mixed with rice, noodles, beans and vegetables. It means: "Eat mixed porridge and remember the lesson." This porridge made the young couple get rid of their bad habits and embark on the right path. By living hard, their days are getting better day by day. The popular custom of Laba porridge is that people follow it to warn future generations.

Laba Festival custom

1, Laba porridge

Laba porridge, also known as "seven treasures and five flavors porridge", "Buddha porridge" and "everyone's meal", is a kind of porridge made of various ingredients. The origin of the custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival is related to the story of Buddha becoming a Buddha. Therefore, Li Fu, a scholar in Suzhou in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "The porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month came from the Vatican, and the seven treasures were beautiful and fragrant." Generally speaking, the Buddhist porridge in the temple is delicious and abundant, which can meet the needs of good men and women who come to the temple to attend the memorial ceremony. Some believers come specifically for "porridge" and think that Laba porridge is auspicious for the Buddha, not only for their own consumption, but also for their families. Year after year, the tradition of boiling Laba porridge in monasteries has spread widely among the people, and gradually formed the custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival in northern China.

2. Laba vinegar

Laba vinegar is a traditional custom of Laba Festival. The custom of soaking garlic with vinegar on Laba Day is called Laba vinegar. Laba vinegar should be soaked on New Year's Day, jiaozi should be eaten on the first day, and jiaozi should be a vegetarian. You should be a vegetarian for a year, and dip it in Laba vinegar, which will have a unique taste. "Laba vinegar" not only tastes mellow, but also does not go bad after a long time.

3. Laba garlic

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the atmosphere of the New Year is getting worse every day. In most parts of northern China, the custom of soaking garlic with vinegar is called Laba garlic. It is a custom in northern China to brew Laba garlic on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Its materials are vinegar and garlic cloves.

Step 4 eat ice

On the day before Laba Festival, people usually scoop water in steel pots and freeze it. When Laba Festival comes, they will remove the ice and break it. It is said that the ice on this day is magical, and it won't hurt your stomach for a year after eating it.

5, Laba tofu

Laba tofu is one of the traditional folk snacks in yi county, Anhui Province, and it is a holiday custom. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household will bake tofu, which is called "Laba tofu" by the people.

6. Laba noodles

Laba noodles, seasonal food for Laba Festival. Traditional pasta is popular in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. In Chengcheng area around Weibei, Shaanxi Province, porridge is generally not drunk on Laba Festival. Every year on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household eats several bowls of laba noodles.

7. Wheat and rice

Xining Laba Festival does not drink porridge, but eats wheat kernel rice. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the newly ground wheat grains are cooked with beef and mutton, with green salt, ginger skin, pepper, tsaoko, Miao Xiang and other condiments, and cooked overnight with slow fire. According to the legend in Qinghai, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when Sakyamuni became a monk. Before the Taoist priest became a monk, a shepherdess offered chyle and cooked porridge with fragrant grains for the Buddha. That porridge is wheat kernel porridge, which later became "Laba porridge" in Qinghai. According to this practice, later generations made this diet into a recipe for Qinghai people, and it also became a popular dish in restaurants.