Dumplings, cakes, fish, meat, chicken, duck, etc., as well as wine. The legend of Laba porridge On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chinese people have the custom of eating Laba porridge.

It is said that Laba porridge came from India.

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu in ancient northern India (now in Nepal). Seeing that all living beings were suffering from birth, old age, illness, and death, he was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, so he gave up his throne and became a monk to practice Taoism.

There was no harvest at first, but after six years of asceticism, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he enlightened and became a Buddha under the bodhi tree.

During these six years of asceticism, he only ate one hemp and one meter a day.

Later generations will not forget his suffering and eat porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a commemoration.

"Laba" has become the "anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment".

"Laba" is a grand Buddhist festival.

Before liberation, Buddhist temples in various places held Buddha bathing meetings and chanted sutras. They also imitated the legend of the shepherdess offering chyle before Sakyamuni attained enlightenment. They used fragrant grains, fruits, etc. to cook porridge for the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge".

He gave Laba porridge to his disciples and faithful men and women, and it became a custom among the people.

It is said that before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in some temples, monks hold alms bowls and go alms along the streets, cooking the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distributing it to the poor.

Legend has it that after eating it, you can get blessings from the Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge".

Lu You's poem in the Southern Song Dynasty goes: "Nowadays, Buddhas feed each other more porridge, while Juejiang Village keeps new things." It is said that there is a "restaurant" for storing leftovers in Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou. Normally, the monks dry the leftovers in the sun every day and accumulate a

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the remaining grain of the year is cooked into Laba porridge and distributed to believers. It is called "Fushou porridge" and "Fushou porridge", which means that after eating it, it can increase happiness and longevity.

It can be seen that the monks in the temples at that time cherished the virtue of food.

Laba porridge was cooked with red beans and glutinous rice in ancient times. Later, the ingredients gradually increased.

Zhou Mi of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Old Wulin Stories": "Porridge made from walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms, persimmon chestnuts, etc. is called 'Laba porridge'".

To this day, people in the vast areas south of the Yangtze River, northeast, and northwest of my country still retain the custom of eating Laba porridge, but it is rare in Guangdong.

The ingredients used vary, but mostly glutinous rice, red beans, dates, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies, etc. are used to cook sweet porridge.

There are also those that add longan, longan meat, candied fruit and the like.

Eating a bowl of steaming Laba porridge in winter is delicious and nutritious, and can indeed increase happiness and longevity.

How to eat during the Spring Festival in old Beijing? There is a Beijing folk song: "Tanggua is used to sacrifice the stove, and the New Year is coming." The first food to enter the festival is Tanggua, Guandong sugar and other snacks used to "sacrifice the stove". They are made of colloidal maltose and are sweet and slightly sour.

, which was an excellent delicacy in an era when life was less affluent.

Moreover, the presence of Tanggua and Guandong sugar at home indicates that the Spring Festival is not far away.

Of course, the "Kitchen Lord" does not eat the fireworks of the world. This kind of "bribery" in the hope that the "Kitchen Lord" will "say good things to God and ensure peace in the lower world" has naturally become a favorite among children.

Old Beijingers are particularly particular about "Celebrating the New Year", so they have this saying: "Honey, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba Festival. Drink Laba porridge for a few days. It's twenty-three, twenty-three, Tanggua Guan.

Twenty-four, clean the house, twenty-five, fried tofu, twenty-six, stew mutton, twenty-seven, kill the male dog, twenty-eight, make the dough, twenty-nine, steam the buns, and stay up all night on the thirtieth night.

, New Year's Day, twist, twist..." ballad.

Laba porridge, fried tofu, stewed mutton, etc. listed in the folk song are all delicacies of old Beijing during the Spring Festival.

Today, these are commonplace meals, but in the 1950s and 1960s, they could only be enjoyed during the Chinese New Year.

There are only the above types of food during the Spring Festival, which is certainly not rich. Pastries such as Mi Gong and Saqima, which were used to worship gods and ancestors in ancient times, are not only foods of Manchu and Mongolian ethnic minorities in Beijing, but also must-haves in Beijing people’s homes.

prepared food.

Some well-off Beijingers still had the custom of eating fish on New Year's Eve.

The fish must be carp. It was originally used as a sacrifice to the gods, but later it was associated with the auspicious saying of "good luck and good fortune". Fish is both a delicacy and an offering.

As for the dumplings on New Year's Eve, the dumplings with vegetarian fillings are used to worship the gods, while everyone eats the dumplings stuffed with meat. People who are not well-off use a mixture of meat and vegetables as fillings.

Even the poorest families have many "procedures" to eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

In addition to well-known delicacies such as dumplings and rice cakes, people in "Old Beijing" also make "douerjiang" - a cold dish made of pork skin, dried tofu, soybeans, green beans, water mustard, etc., with a color like

Amber, similar to "aspic".

There is also "mustard dumpling", which is a cold dish used to accompany wine and appetizers.

People eat a lot of greasy food during festivals, which tends to cause fire and phlegm. These cold dishes can make up for this shortcoming.

When all kinds of meat and vegetable dishes are prepared, Beijingers also prepare candies, dried fruits, melon seeds and "mixed fruits". The so-called "mixed fruits" are today's assorted preserved fruits.

In those days, these snacks were delicacies for people to sit around the fire and bid farewell to the New Year.

Today, almost all the offerings and traditional foods in the name of worshiping ancestors and gods have been preserved, but they are not so eye-catching.

As for today's Spring Festival, the dining table can only be summed up by the word "abundant". Sichuan and Shandong cuisine and fresh seafood will appear on ordinary people's New Year's Eve dining tables.