The Laba Festival, commonly known as "Laba Festival", falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The ancients had the tradition of offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods and praying for a good harvest. In some areas, there is the custom of drinking Laba porridge.

Our country has had the tradition of celebrating the Laba Festival since ancient times. On this day, most people cook Laba porridge, and in the northern region, they also make Laba garlic.

Let’s take a look at the customs of the Laba Festival!

1. Customs of the Northern and Southern Laba Festival? North?? 1. Shaanxi custom: After the Laba porridge is cooked, you must first worship the gods and ancestors.

If you want to give it to relatives and friends later, you must send it out before noon.

Finally, the whole family eats it.

Leftover Laba porridge, if you keep it for a few days and still have it left over, it is a good sign, which means "more than enough every year".

If you give porridge to poor people, it will be a good thing for yourself.

In some places where there is little or no rice production, people do not eat Laba porridge, but eat Laba noodles.

Make saozi with various fruits and vegetables, and roll out the noodles.

On the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole family eats together.

?2. Northwest custom of the Laba Festival. In the northern Shaanxi Plateau, in addition to using a variety of rice and beans to make porridge, you must also add various dried fruits, tofu and meat to cook it.

After eating, the porridge should be smeared on the door, the stove and the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters and welcome a bumper agricultural harvest in the coming year.

Moreover, it is forbidden to eat vegetables on Laba day.

If you eat vegetables on this day, there will be many weeds in the crop fields.

On Laba Day, in addition to eating Laba porridge, people also use the porridge to worship ancestors and granaries.

?3. Beijing customs: Laba porridge in Beijing can be said to be the most exquisite.

There are many things mixed with white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, grapes, ginkgo, black hair, roses, red beans, peanuts... no less than 20 kinds.

On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people start washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling skins, and removing cores. They start stewing on low heat at midnight. It is not until early the next morning that Laba porridge is ready.

?South:??1. Guangdong customs In Guangdong, the atmosphere of the Laba Festival is very light.

Why do Cantonese people not celebrate the Laba Festival?

This is related to the geographical location and the living habits of Guangfu people since ancient times.

The ancient Lingnan water towns were not yet developed. The life of the indigenous people was not based on farming. They made a living by fishing for shrimps and fish from the water. However, no one cultivated the beans and grains needed to make Laba porridge, so they did not eat them.

customs.

People in Guangdong also eat Laba porridge, but mainly in the Pearl River Delta. It is a custom brought by the Hakka people from the north. However, the materials used to make Laba porridge are different. For example, millet and red dates are mostly used in the north, while glutinous rice, lilies, and lilies are mostly used in the south.

Lotus seeds and so on.

?2. Fujian Customs Fuzhou’s traditional Laba porridge has an interesting feature: a small lion made of several fruits is placed on the porridge to ward off evil spirits.

In the past, Fuzhou people usually started making Laba porridge on the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, simmering it carefully overnight, and the next morning, the Laba porridge was ready.

Some people will first carve the fruit into various shapes, the most interesting one is to make "fruit lion".

The crispy dates are pitted and dried to make the lion's body, half a walnut kernel is used to make the lion's head, the peach kernel is used to make the lion's feet, and the almonds are used to make the lion's tail. Then use syrup to stick the various parts together and put them on the porridge surface.

If the bowl is large, you can also put two lions on it, which means "avoiding evil and bringing good luck".

In large temples, you can also see colored foods such as jujube paste, bean paste, and hawthorn molded into small shapes such as the Eight Immortals, Arhat, and Longevity God.

After the Laba porridge is cooked, worship the gods and ancestors in the early morning, and then give it to relatives, friends and neighbors before noon.

Finally, the whole family shares the food, leaving a little bit to take the sign of "more than enough every year".

In the cold winter, drinking a bowl of steaming, sweet and delicious Laba porridge can dispel the cold and warm the stomach, which is also beneficial to human health.

?3. Jiangxi custom Laba Festival is the first festival before the Spring Festival. Nanchang people regard "Laba Festival" as the prelude to the New Year.

Starting from Laba, every household must prepare peanuts, melon seeds, bacon, and buy new year's goods.

There is a folk saying that "after eating Laba porridge, you will look forward to the new year."

"There is no need to choose the day of Laba, as it will bring good fortune and longevity." In Nanchang, Laba is also a traditional auspicious day.

On this day, in addition to drinking "Laba porridge", Nanchang people also often hold "Laba weddings" such as getting engaged, marrying a daughter-in-law, and marrying off a daughter.

In ancient times, in addition to worshiping gods and ancestors, the customs of December also included "Nuo".

Nuo is a unique culture in Jiangxi and is a ritual to expel plague ghosts.

In Nanchang, in order to inherit and develop Nuo culture, Honggutan New District invested in the construction of Nuo Culture Park.

According to historical records, performers usually wear masks and pretend to be Vajras, strong men, and Fang Ping. They hold swords and axes. People beat drums and make noise to drive away evil spirits and diseases. This is also called wax drums to drive away diseases. It is said that it can keep children safe.

healthy.