Laba Festival, that is, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month (twelfth lunar month) every year, is also called "Magic Weapon Festival", "Buddhist Enlightenment Festival" and "Enlightenment Meeting". In the north of our country, there is a saying that "children don't be greedy, it's the year after Laba", which means the prelude to the Chinese New Year.
The traditional food customs of Laba Festival include: soaking Laba garlic, making Laba vinegar, cooking Laba porridge, eating Laba beans, eating trumpet noodles, brewing Laba vinegar, eating Laba tofu, eating ice, eating wheat kernel rice, etc. I think there are seven food customs worth mentioning in Laba Festival. Let's take a look with me:
One of the traditional food customs of Laba Festival: being a vegetarian and dipping in jiaozi.
Laba vinegar is one of the traditional food in Laba Festival. In northern China, there is a custom of soaking garlic in vinegar on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The vinegar soaked in garlic is called Laba vinegar. "Laba vinegar" not only tastes mellow, but also does not go bad for a long time. Laba vinegar should be soaked until the first day of the lunar new year. On the first day, jiaozi, a vegetarian, dipped in Laba vinegar, taking the meaning of being vegetarian for one year, and having a good taste.
It is said that the making of Laba vinegar started in Du Kang and Du Kang, and they were reluctant to throw away the wine trough, and mixed water into the distiller's grains (fermentation). After 21 days (vinegar brewing cycle), the aroma came out in the jar. After Du Kang tasted it, it was sweet and sour, so they forced this sweet and sour sweat out and put it in another place. Du Kang named it seasoning pulp, which was sold in the market.
? The second traditional food custom of Laba Festival: wheat porridge?
Mairen porridge is the "Laba porridge" of Qinghai people. On December 8 of the lunar calendar, many rural areas in Qinghai will hold festivals and celebrations. Farmers want to eat Mairen porridge, and some places call it Mairen rice.
The wheat kernel of wheat kernel porridge is ground and peeled from the new wheat in that year, or the ice is chiseled into a mortar, and the husk is repeatedly chiseled in the mortar to get the wheat kernel. Cook wheat kernels with cattle, sheep and pork the night before, add green salt, ginger bark, pepper, tsaoko, fennel and other aniseed, and cook overnight with slow fire, and the meat, wheat and spices will be boiled into emulsion. Ginger peel and pepper in spices are dry and cold-dispelling. In Qinghai, because of the high altitude, the temperature difference between day and night is more than 2 degrees, and it is particularly cold in the morning and at night, and it is necessary to have something to drive away the cold. Most people in Qinghai add pepper to their daily diet, which is why.
According to the legend in Qinghai, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when Sakyamuni attained enlightenment. Before the enlightenment, a shepherdess offered chyle and made porridge from fragrant grains and fruits for the Buddha. That porridge is Mairen porridge. Later generations made this special food in Qinghai people's diet and it became popular in restaurants.
? Laba Festival Traditional Dietary Customs III: Laba Garlic?
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the atmosphere of the New Year is getting worse day by day. In most parts of North China, the custom of soaking garlic with vinegar is called Laba garlic. Laba garlic is brewed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is a custom in North China. Its materials are vinegar and garlic cloves. Pickled Laba garlic is a traditional snack mainly popular in North China, and it is a holiday food custom of Laba Festival.
According to the old man, the word "Laba garlic" is homophonic with the word "calculate", which means that each firm should collect accounts on this day and calculate the income and expenditure of this year, so that it can be seen that the profit and loss, including foreign debts and foreign debts, should be calculated clearly on this day, and this is what "Laba calculate" is all about. The creditor who wants the debt on Laba's day will send a message to the family who owes him money, and he should be prepared to pay back the money.
There is a folk proverb in Beijing: "Laba porridge, Laba garlic, the messenger who pays the bill, pays back the money if you are in debt." Later, if someone owed money to others, garlic was used instead of the word "calculate" to show taboo, and the word "calculate" was avoided. In fact, what was owed to others was to be paid back after all.
? Laba Festival Traditional Dietary Customs IV: Laba Porridge?
On Laba Day, there is a custom of drinking Laba porridge in some places in China. Although the materials used in Laba porridge in different areas are different, they basically include cereals such as rice, millet, glutinous rice, sorghum, purple rice and coix seed, beans such as soybeans, red beans, mung beans, kidney beans and cowpeas, red dates, peanuts, lotus seeds, medlar, chestnuts, walnuts and almonds.
The earliest Laba porridge was cooked with adzuki beans, which was gradually enriched by evolution and local characteristics. Scholars in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully wrote "Old Wulin Stories", saying: "It is called Laba porridge to make porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk, persimmons and chestnuts."
The custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival comes from Buddhism. The eighth day of December is the day when Buddha Sakyamuni became a Buddha. In order not to forget the suffering before Buddha became a Buddha, but also to commemorate the Buddha's enlightenment on the eighth day of December, ancient Indians ate mixed porridge as a commemoration. Generally speaking, the Buddhist porridge in the temple is delicious and abundant to meet the needs of good men and women who come to the temple to attend the memorial ceremony. Some believers came specially for "porridge", thinking that Laba's porridge for the Buddha was auspicious, not only for their own consumption, but also for their families to enjoy. Year after year, the tradition of making Laba porridge in monasteries has spread widely to the people, thus gradually forming the custom of drinking Laba porridge on Laba Festival in northern China.
? The fifth traditional food custom of Laba Festival: Laba tofu?
Laba tofu is one of the traditional folk snacks in yi county, Anhui Province, and it is also a holiday custom food. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has to bake tofu, which is called "Laba tofu" by the people.
Laba Tofu It is said that in ancient times, a couple lived a loving life. The man went out to do business, and the woman worked as a actress at home. My wife, who just bought tofu and was going home to cook on Laba Festival, received an invitation from a distant relative to make a wedding dress. Don't put tofu on the stone mill in front of the door before you leave, and it will take two or three months to go home. When I entered the door, I found that the tofu on the stone mill became golden and hard, and I could smell the aroma. I cut it and tasted it. I found it was delicious, and I used the same method, plus salt, to bring food to my husband who went out to do business for a long journey. Friends in the same trade found tofu delicious, dry and easy to carry, and repeatedly called it "wife tofu", while her husband called it "wife tofu" with joy. The pronunciation of yi county's "wife" was very similar to "Laba", and it was discovered during Laba Festival. Over time, this tofu was also called Laba tofu by everyone, and it was dried in the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
the sixth traditional food custom of Laba Festival: Laba ice?
Eating ice on Laba Festival is a custom in some areas. There is a saying called "Eating ice on Laba can't be bad", which refers to the custom of eating ice on Laba Festival. Because of the cold winter, most of the food eaten is hot and dry, and people are prone to various symptoms of getting angry. Eating ice can achieve the effect of moistening dryness and reducing fire. On the day of Laba Festival, eating some ice properly can not only enjoy the fun out of season, but also gather together the excitement of the festival. ?
As the saying goes, "La Qi La Ba, freezing to death is called a flower." As we all know, the most common custom of Laba Festival is to drink Laba porridge, but eating Laba ice is also an important part of Laba Festival in traditional customs. As the saying goes, "If you can't succeed in the coming year, look at Laba Ice first". On the morning of Laba, people go to rivers and springs to smash ice and carry it home, which is called Laba Ice. Whoever gets up early and is the first to ice will have better luck. It is said that Laba ice can cure all diseases. The ice from this day should be kept for a long time, so that children can have a happy time eating ice. Of course, adults also eat it. Interestingly, no matter how you eat it, you won't have diarrhea. On this day, women will use the flour made of "Laba Ice", peas and highland barley to stir up the dough.
On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, water is filled in a basin, and by the time of Laba, the water in the basin freezes, and then the ice cubes are broken and eaten. There is a saying that eating ice on Laba Day will not cause stomach pain for the next year. ? Eating Laba ice is also an important part of Laba Festival. As the saying goes, "If you can't succeed in the coming year, look at Laba Ice first".
? The seventh traditional food custom of Laba Festival: Laba noodles?
Laba noodles are the seasonal food of Laba Festival. Local traditional pasta is popular in Guanzhong area of Shaanxi Province. In Chengcheng area in Weibei area of Shaanxi Province, porridge is generally not drunk on Laba Festival. Every household eats bowls of Laba noodles on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Laba noodles in Fubei are called Baijia noodles, so you can't enjoy them alone. When the noodles are ready, the first bowl respects the kitchen god first, and food is the first thing for the people; The second bowl respects the god of wealth, seeking wealth and blessing; The third bowl is to worship the ancestors, and bless the prosperity of the family and the children and grandchildren. Then pour the three bowls of noodles back into the pot and stir well. Mother put out a lot of bowls for our brothers to share with their neighbors. Sometimes my own noodles are slow to make, and before I go out, other friends have sent their own laba noodles to my home. Everyone said to each other for more than a year, and the grain was abundant, and they exchanged hot noodles and began to enjoy them. Family meals will be carried out in an orderly manner. Girls and kannika nimtragol will sit at the door of the kitchen and have a meal. From time to time, they will see if the old people and children have used up their meals, and fill them up in time. With a steaming bowl of laba noodles, families sometimes gather around the stone table and enjoy themselves in the sun, and sometimes they chat and eat with their neighbors squatting on the mound at the door. When strangers pass by, the villagers will also fill a bowl of Laba noodles to send them warmth and cold, and send them blessings and friendship. As the poet described it,
When you boil a pot, all kinds of vegetables are fragrant,
It costs no sugar to clean the salt.
The group is sitting in the morning with the same sip.
Everyone is warm-hearted.
Laba noodles are a traditional food in Guanzhong area of northern Shaanxi on Laba Festival. Because pasta is delicious in Shaanxi area, they usually don't drink Laba porridge on Laba Festival, so they use Laba noodles instead of Laba porridge. Laba noodles and Laba porridge have the same meaning, mainly to commemorate the Buddha's cultivation and remember the suffering of the Buddha, and also to use the meaning of exorcism to ward off evil spirits.
The traditional festival of Laba Festival provides a channel for people to keep in touch with each other and maintain family ties. In the process of preparing for or during the festival, people have deepened the traditional concept of "home" and felt a deep warmth.