The origin of the myth of the Lapa Festival

Legend 1: Lapa Festival is the eighth day of the month of Lunar New Year (December), originated in the end of the Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, it is said that Zhu Yuanzhang fell in the prison suffering, when it was a cold day, cold and hungry Zhu Yuanzhang even from the prison of the rat hole planing out some red beans, rice, jujubes and other seven or eight kinds of grains and cereals. Zhu Yuanzhang these things into a porridge, because that day is the eighth day of the eighth month of the waxing moon, Zhu Yuanzhang will be beautifully named this pot of miscellaneous grain porridge for the waxing gruel. Enjoy a beautiful meal. 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 mixed grain congee officially named Lahai congee.

Legend 2: the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama was the son of King Jinyan of Gavilavi country in northern India (now in Nepal), he saw all beings suffer from old age, sickness and death and other pain, and dissatisfaction with the theocratic rule of the Brahmins at that time, give up the throne, and went out to practice. 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, he ate only one flax and one rice a day. The descendants did not forget his suffering and ate porridge on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year every year to commemorate him. "The eighth day of the eighth month of the Lunar New Year has become the "anniversary of the Buddha's enlightenment". "Lapa" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before the liberation of all over the Buddhist temple for the bathing will be, held chanting, and follow the example of Sakyamuni before he became a Taoist, shepherdesses offer the legendary story of milk, with fragrant grain, fruit and other congee for the Buddha, called "Lahai congee". And Laha congee will be given to the disciples and the good men and women, and then it will be in the folk custom. It is said that in some monasteries, before the eighth day of the eighth month of the Lunar New Year, the monks hold the bowl and go along the streets to collect rice, chestnuts, jujubes, nuts and other materials to be boiled into Laha congee and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that if you eat it, you will be blessed by Buddha, so the poor people call it "Buddha porridge".

Legend 3: Laha Festival comes from the custom of "beating ghosts with red beans". Legend has it that Zhuan Xu, one of the five ancient emperors, had three sons who became evil spirits after their deaths, specializing in scaring children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and were afraid of ghosts and gods, believing that adults and children who suffered from strokes and illnesses and were in poor health were all due to epidemics and ghosts. These evil spirits are not afraid of the world, single afraid of red) beans, so there is a "red beans to beat the ghosts," said. Therefore, on the eighth day of the waxing moon to red small beans, red small beans porridge, in order to get rid of the disease to welcome the good luck.

Legend 4: Lunar New Year's Day out of people's nostalgia for the loyal minister Yue Fei. That year, Yue Fei led the Department of Jin in Zhu Xianzhen, when the nine winter, Yue's army food and clothing, starvation and freezing, the people have sent congee, Yue's army full of a meal sent by the people of the "thousands of congee", the results of the great victory and return. This day is the eighth day of the twelfth month. After the death of Yue Fei, the people in order to commemorate him, every Lunar New Year's Eve, they will be mixed grains, beans and fruits porridge, and finally become a custom.

Legend 5: Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, the world's workers were ordered to come, can not go home for many years, food by the family to send. Some of the workers, their homes are separated by thousands of mountains, food can not be sent, resulting in a number of workers died of starvation on the Great Wall site. One year on the eighth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, no food to eat the migrant workers have accumulated a few handfuls of grains and cereals, put in a pot of gruel, each person drank a bowl, and finally died of starvation under the Great Wall. In order to commemorate the death of starvation in the Great Wall site workers, people eat every year on the eighth day of the eighth month of Lunar New Year "Lahai congee", in order to commemorate.

Legend VI: Legend has it that the old couple of life, hard-working, thrifty, save a large property, but the baby son is not good, marry a daughter-in-law is not virtuous, soon lost the family business, to the eighth of the lunar month the day, the little two freezing and starvation, but fortunately there are the village, the neighbors to help, cooking a pot of rice, noodles, beans, vegetables, etc. Mixed together "! Mixed porridge". Meaning: "Eat a meal of mixed porridge, lessons remembered." This porridge so that the young couple changed their vices, on the right path, rely on hard work to hold the family, day by day better. The popular custom of eating porridge on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month is a lesson for people to warn their descendants.

Customs of the Lahai Festival

1, sacrifice

Ying Shao, "Customs" cloud: "Rites of Passage": "Lah", "hunting," said the field of hunting birds and beasts, in order to sacrifice to their ancestors. Or I said: wax, also, the new and the old, so the big sacrifice to report the success also." Its origin is very early, "Rituals - Suburban Special Adoption" records: "Ijian clan began for the wax. Wax is also known as "Suo" (索), which is the term for the twelfth month of the year, when all things are gathered together for the purpose of offering food and drinks." The Records of the Grand Historian (史记-补三皇本纪) also says, "The Shennong clan of Emperor Yan Di, with its first field affairs, made wax sacrifices to repay heaven and earth." Xia dynasty called the wax day sacrifice for "Ka Ping", Yin said "clear sacrifice", Zhou said "big wax", the Han dynasty changed to "wax". Sacrifice the object of all eight: the first stingy God Shen Nong, the Division stingy God Houji, the God of agriculture, the God of the field officials, post table border God began to create the field hut, open the road, the delineation of boundaries of the people, cat and tiger God, the Square God embankment, the God of the ditch, the God of the water, the God of the ditch, the insect God. Pre-qin wax festival day in the winter solstice after the third day of the eleventh day of the north and south dynasty after gradually fixed in the eighth day of the wax month. To the Tang and Song dynasties, this festival is covered with the color of God and Buddha. According to legend, before Shakyamuni became a Buddha, he was starving and fainted. A shepherdess woke him up by cooking congee from a clear spring with mixed grains and wild fruits. Siddhartha Gautama contemplated under the Bodhi tree and finally attained Buddhahood on December 8th. From then on, the Buddhists set this day as the "Buddha became a day", reciting scriptures to commemorate the day, and it became a festival. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, honoring the gods and Buddha was the main theme of the Lapa Festival instead of sacrificing to ancestral spirits, celebrating good harvests and driving away epidemics and avoiding disasters. The main custom of the festival is to boil, give and taste Lapa congee, and hold the celebration of abundant family realities. At the same time, many people start the Spring Festival, busy killing the New Year's pig, playing bean curd, glue making wind fish and preserved meat, purchasing New Year's commodities, and the atmosphere of the "New Year" is gradually thickening.

2, Laha congee

Laha congee is also known as "seven treasures and five flavors porridge". The history of drinking Lapa congee in China has been more than a thousand years. The earliest began in the Song Dynasty. On every Laha day, whether it is the court, the government, the temple or the people's home to do Laha congee. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laha congee was even more prevalent. In the court, the emperor, the empress, the emperor's son and so on to the civil and military ministers, court ladies give Laha congee, and to the various monasteries to distribute rice, fruit and so on for the monks to eat. In the folk, families also do Lahai porridge, worship ancestors; at the same time, the family reunion together to eat, gifts to friends and relatives.

Mentioning the "Lahai Festival", probably the first thought that flashes in most people's minds is "drinking Lahai congee", the real old Beijing customs more or from the Qing Dynasty. Xiao Fuxing said, on the Lapa Festival, almost all the customs are centered around drinking Lapa congee, but the earliest Lapa congee is for the poor to eat, "at the end of the poor people do not have to eat things, will be the lid of the pot, the cylinder edge of the leftover rice cleaned and boiled into a porridge to drink, and slowly formed a custom, and ultimately to the official government, the Palace and the temples."

In the long process of folklore evolution, many sayings have emerged, namely "send a letter of Lapa congee", "after the Lapa is the year" and so on. Xiao Fuxing explained, as a festival, if the New Year is a symphony, then the Laha Festival is the first chapter of the "prelude", "New Year" from the beginning of the prelude. Lapa congee, also known as eight treasures congee, inside the "five flavors", "eight treasures" contains the meaning of good luck, and in the "five flavors", "bitter" contains a place, "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter", "bitter" and "bitter".

"If this layer of meaning is lost, it is stripped of its core. In the past, there was oppositional separation in the old society, and it was the significance of Laba congee on that day that was extraordinary." Xiao Fuxing claimed.

3, Laha garlic

Laha garlic is to soak garlic on the eighth day of the lunar month, a custom in the north, especially in northern China. Its ingredients are vinegar and garlic cloves.

4, eat ice

The day before Lahai, people usually use steel pots to scoop up water to make ice, and when it comes to Lahai Festival, they take off the pots of ice and crack the ice into pieces. It is said that the ice on this day is very magical, eat it in the next year will not have a stomach ache.

5, Lahai tofu

"Lahai tofu" is the Anhui Qianxian folk flavor specialties, in the Spring Festival on the eve of Lahai, that is, before and after the eighth day of the twelfth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, Qianxian families have to sun tanning tofu, the folk will be this natural sun tanning tofu known as "Lahai tofu "

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6, Lahai noodles

Northern China, some places that do not produce or less rice, people do not eat Lahai congee, but eat Lahai noodles. Every other day with a variety of fruits and vegetables into a bashful, the noodles rolled out, to the morning of the eighth of Lunar New Year, the whole family to eat Laha noodles.

7, wheat kernel rice

Xining Lunar New Year's Day does not drink porridge, but eat wheat kernel rice. On the seventh night of the first day of the lunar month will be newly milled wheat kernels, and beef and mutton with cooking, plus green salt, ginger, pepper, fruits, Miao incense and other condiments, after a night of simmering fire. Qinghai legend says that the eighth day of the twelfth month of the lunar calendar is Shakyamuni's day of initiation, before the initiation of the shepherdess to offer milk, with incense and fruit porridge for the Buddha, that porridge is wheat porridge, later became the Qinghai "Lahai congee". According to this practice, later generations created this flavor in the Qinghai people's diet. Also began to popularize in restaurants.