The Origin and Legend of Lapa

Lapa is a traditional Chinese festival, commonly known as "Lapa", which is celebrated on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar every year, and is mainly popular in the north of China.

Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was the son of King Jinyi of Gavilavi in the north of ancient India. Seeing that all living beings suffered from the pains of old age, sickness, and death, and being dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of the Brahmins at that time, he gave up his throne and left his home for monasticism. After six years of asceticism, he attained enlightenment and became a Buddha under the Bodhi tree on the eighth day of the waxing moon.

During these six years of asceticism, Siddhartha Gautama ate only one hemp and one rice a day. In order not to forget the suffering of Sakyamuni, later generations ate congee on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year to honor him. After the introduction of Buddhism to China, monasteries were built all over the world, and the activity of cooking congee to honor the Buddha was also prevalent.

In the north of China, there are "children children you do not want, after the Lunar New Year is the year," said the Lunar New Year means that the prelude to the start of the New Year. Every Laha Festival, the northern region is busy peeling garlic vinegar, soak Laha garlic, eat Laha noodles Laha porridge. In the South Laha rarely mentioned, Laha Festival is a typical northern holiday.

The main custom of Laha Festival is "drinking Laha congee". Laha congee, also known as "seven treasures and five flavors of congee", "Buddha congee", "everyone rice", etc., is a kind of congee made from a variety of ingredients. The history of drinking Laha congee in China has been more than a thousand years. On every Laha day, both the imperial government, temples and the people's homes have to make Laha congee. By the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laha congee was even more prevalent.