"Children, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after the Laba Festival." When this familiar song sounds, we all know that it is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month again, and the end of the first year is "Laba" "It means the transition between the old and the new, the time to say goodbye to the old and welcome the new." So what are the legends about the Laba Festival? Let’s take a look

The legend of Laba Festival:

1. Anniversary of Buddha’s Enlightenment

Laba porridge was introduced 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.

2. Red beans fight ghosts

"Sou Shen Ji": "In the past, Zhuanxu had three sons, who died as plague ghosts. One lived in the river and was a tormenting ghost; the other lived in the water and was a demon. A ghost who lives in a palace, is good at surprising children, and is called a child ghost."

Zhuanxu, the father of the ghost, is a very protective person. The ghost spreads plagues in the world and makes people miserable. Zhuanxu not only did not blame him, but covered up his evil deeds for him. Zhuanxu first sent the great gods Zhong and Li to cut off the passage between heaven and earth. From then on, the communication between gods and humans was cut off, so that the sufferings of the people could no longer be appealed to heaven.

Now that the passage is blocked, the evil spirit begins to do whatever is wrong, causing chaos in heaven and earth. He spreads plagues and diseases to the world; his second brother "Sprite" specializes in inflicting sores and diseases on people or frightening children. The child; the third brother "sends away the poor". If he enters the door of any house, the family will soon decline and die of poverty. In addition, the fourth younger brother is called Yaozhu, who is extremely stubborn and does mischief all day long! There are also the Ji Meng God with a dragon head, the Arrogant Insect God with two heads and bees, the Farmer God who has ruined countries and families everywhere, and other kinds of demon gods who bring trouble to the world and cause chaos in the world. This tormenting ghost is not afraid of anything but red beans, so there is a saying that "red beans beat ghosts". Therefore, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, porridge is cooked with red beans and adzuki beans to ward off epidemics and welcome good luck.

3. Commemorating the laborers who built the Great Wall

Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, and migrant workers from all over the world came under orders. They could not go home for many years, so they had to rely on food provided by their families. Some migrant workers live thousands of miles away from their homes and cannot receive food. As a result, many migrant workers starved to death at the Great Wall construction site. One year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, migrant workers who had no food to eat jointly accumulated a few handfuls of grains, put them in a pot and cooked them into gruel. Each of them drank a bowl, and eventually they starved to death under the Great Wall. In order to mourn the migrant workers who starved to death at the Great Wall construction site, people eat "Laba porridge" every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a commemoration.

4. Inheriting the virtues of diligence and thrift from our ancestors

During the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a very lazy young man who usually idled around and lived in vain. 8. The family ran out of food, and the young man was so hungry that he searched the rice jars, flour bags, and pots and jars at home. He washed the remaining grains of rice flour and edible scraps into the pot, and cooked a bowl of mushy porridge and drank it. , from then on, I thought hard and regretted, and made up my mind to change my past mistakes. Local people use this to educate their children and cook porridge and drink it every Laba Festival, which not only means that they will not forget the virtues of diligence and thrift of their ancestors on the Laba Festival, but also hope that the gods will bring a good year with plenty of food and clothing.

5. Commemorating Yue Fei

The Laba Festival comes from people’s memory of their loyal minister Yue Fei. At that time, Yue Fei led his troops to resist the Jin Dynasty in Zhuxian Town. It was the severe winter of the ninth month. The Yue family army had insufficient food and clothing, was hungry and cold, and the people sent porridge one after another. The Yue family army had a full meal of "Qianjia porridge" sent by the people, and the result was great. Return victoriously. This day is the eighth day of December. After Yue Fei's death, in order to commemorate him, the people cooked porridge with grains, beans and fruits every eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which finally became a custom.

6. Zhu Yuanzhang invented Laba porridge

It is said that it was the twelfth lunar month of winter when Zhu Yuanzhang was in trouble. Zhu Yuanzhang, who had not had any water for two days and two nights, was so thirsty that his lips were chapped and his eyes were so hungry that there were flashes of gold in his eyes. When he was desperate, a mouse scurried in front of him and got into a hole. Zhu Yuanzhang was so anxious that he found a shovel and dug in along the mouse hole. Unexpectedly, this is the mouse's granary, which contains rice, beans, corn, red dates, taro, etc. Although there is not much, there is a little bit of everything. Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, cooked these things into porridge, and enjoyed a delicious meal. Because that day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang called this pot of multigrain porridge Laba porridge. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang brought peace to the world and became emperor. In order to commemorate that special day, he designated that day as the Laba Festival and officially named the multigrain porridge eaten that day Laba porridge.

Traditional food customs of Laba Festival:

1. Drink Laba porridge

On Laba day, there is a custom of eating Laba porridge. Laba porridge is also called Qibao and five-flavor porridge. The history of eating Laba porridge in our country has been more than a thousand years. It first started in the Song Dynasty. On every Laba day, no matter the court, government, monasteries or ordinary people's homes, they must make Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became even more popular. In the palace, the emperor, empress, prince, etc. would give Laba porridge to the ministers of civil and military affairs and the attendant maids, and distribute rice, fruits, etc. to various temples for the monks to eat.

In the private sector, every household also makes Laba porridge to worship their ancestors; at the same time, families gather together to eat it and give it to relatives and friends.

Although the ingredients of Laba porridge vary in different regions, they basically include rice, millet, glutinous rice, sorghum rice, purple rice, barley and other cereals; beans such as soybeans, red beans, mung beans, kidney beans, cowpeas, red dates, peanuts, lotus seeds, Dried fruits such as wolfberry, chestnut, walnut kernel, almond, longan, raisin, and ginkgo. Laba porridge is not only a seasonal delicacy, but also a good health food, especially suitable for maintaining the spleen and stomach in cold weather.

?2. Laba wine and Laba garlic

There is another saying about the old Beijing custom of soaking "garlic" in vinegar or wine, which depends on the relationship between "garlic" and "garlic". It’s a homophonic pronunciation for “calculate”. In the old days of Beijing, various shops had the custom of settling accounts in the twelfth lunar month of the previous year, that is, they had to settle the income and expenditure for the year and check their foreign debts and receivables. At that time, calculations were usually done on the day of Laba. As the saying goes, "After eating Laba rice, you will do your annual affairs." Therefore, the Laba Festival is also called "Laba calculation". Starting from Laba Day, shop assistants or moneylenders often bring a small jar of garlic soaked in Laba to give to debtors when they go to collect debts. The debtors will know at a glance that they are coming to collect debts. When poor people or small businessmen who have borrowed money are unable to repay their debts, they go out to hide from debts on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, in order to avoid people who want to settle accounts and collect debts from "settling accounts" during the Laba Festival, the common people make "Laba Garlic" or "Laba Wine", eat them and drink them to get rid of bad luck and have a safe and auspicious year. .

After Laba, it’s New Year! The sweetness and glutinousness of Laba porridge is probably the taste of the New Year in every Chinese's heart and an unforgettable memory.

After drinking a bowl of Laba porridge, New Year is approaching