Origin of Eight Treasure Porridge
Origin of Eight Treasure Porridge Edit this section back to the catalog of the lunar calendar in December (the ancient name of Lunar New Year) on the eighth day of the eighth day of the eighth month, is the traditional festival of the Han Chinese people. There is a custom to eat "Lapa congee". In the Han Dynasty, to the winter solstice after the third e day for the "waxing day", the North and South Dynasties was changed to the eighth day of December, called "Lapa Festival". People perform rituals on this day to pray for a good harvest and good luck. Laha congee practice: red beans, walnuts, pine nuts, persimmons, corn, yellow rice, glutinous rice, millet, lingzhi rice, peeled jujube puree, etc. Boiled in water, plus peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, and white sugar, brown sugar, and so on. Lapa Festival is also a Buddhist festival - the "Festival of Success". According to legend, Siddhartha Gautama was rescued by a shepherdess near the Nilian River in Bihar and became a Buddha under the Bodhi tree. Since then, Buddhist disciples have been practicing sutra chanting on Rakhi. And with dried fruits and cereals cooked into "Laha congee". Later, the folk competed with each other to follow suit, the family gathering food, but also gifts to friends and neighbors. Today, the vast majority of northern areas and parts of the south, especially in the southern Dongting Lake area people still retain the Laha Festival, eat "Laha congee" custom. Although there are some changes in the raw materials, but the concept of nutrition and fitness more and more y rooted in people's hearts.
Now we eat "eight treasures congee", "eight treasures rice", is derived from China's ancient "Lapa congee". However, today's material abundance, the raw materials are sold all year round. You don't have to wait until the eighth day of the Lunar New Year to eat "Lapa congee" - Eight Treasure Porridge (or Eight Treasure Rice). It can be said that you can have it all year round if you are willing to make it. Some places in the organization of wedding banquets, especially when the birth of a child to do the wedding wine, often for food eight treasures rice or eight treasures congee and so on. It has three meanings: first of all, it originates from the religious belief in folklore - Buddhism, people think that it can ward off evil spirits, blessing peace; secondly, it can increase the pattern of food, so that the guests can enjoy a variety of flavors of food; thirdly, it can add to the festive atmosphere of the festival, showing the host's attentive and hospitable, so people are happy to do it, a family than a family to do it look good and tasty.
The origin of eight-treasure congee
According to legend, Buddha Shakyamuni left his home and traveled around the world. One day, he fainted in the field due to hunger and exhaustion, and was found by a grazing girl, who rushed home to look for food. But her family was poor and lacked food and clothing. The mixed grains grown by her own family were almost gone, and only a few grains were left. The girl, who was always generous and willing to help others, searched together the few grains left under each grain bag, added some home-grown nuts, cooked a big bowl of porridge with clear spring water, brought it to the Buddha, and fed it to him one bite at a time. After eating the fragrant porridge, Sakyamuni quickly awoke and ran to the nearby river to take a bath, sat under the Bodhi tree to meditate, and finally attained enlightenment and became Buddha on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. Later on, Buddhist believers cooked porridge for Buddha on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year every year. Therefore, Laha congee is also called Buddha congee. On this day, the monks in the temples would cook the collected food into thin rice to offer to God and Buddha, and then distribute the congee to the poor people after the congee had been offered. Later, Laha congee spread and became a folk custom. Lu You, a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, left the following poem: "The Buddha porridge is given to each other this day, and the festival is new in Jiangcun." Lapa congee is given to each other as an auspicious food in folklore, symbolizing a good harvest at the end of the year as well as good weather and good luck in the coming year.
About the origin of Laha congee, there is an interesting story: according to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang was a young herdsman for the landlord's family, and lived a life of not having enough to eat and not being able to wear warm clothes. Once, it was the day of the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, he herded sheep in the field for a day, and had not eaten a decent meal at night. So he went around the field looking for something to fill his stomach. Suddenly, he found a big fat rat fled into a rat hole in a panic, Zhu Yuanzhang approached the hole, used a branch to dig out, found some various kinds of grain in the rat hole, apparently, this is the rat's winter food. Zhu Yuanzhang pulled out a large handful of grains, among which were millet, corn, peanuts, red beans and so on. He washed these miscellaneous grains and cooked them into porridge, which was delicious to eat. Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, still remembering his youth personally made "grain porridge". He stipulated in the imperial food hall to do this kind of cereal porridge, and the name of this porridge for the "Lahai congee". Imperial kitchen in the congee and add gravy, lotus seed, cinnamon, peach kernel, jujube, etc., so that this congee extraordinarily sweet and savory. Later, this porridge has been spread to the people, has been extended to the present