Laba Mark

By Zhou Liang It’s Laba Festival again. Standing in front of the window, my thoughts are like a winding river floating into the distance. I step on the boat of memory, search for the imprint of Laba, and think of bits and pieces of the past...

Regarding "Laba", the imprint is relatively clear. There are three reasons.

First, the days before and after the Laba Festival are the coldest period of the year in Northeast China. This is not much different from childhood memories. Now that I am in my forties, I always like to compare some things today with what I was like when I was a child, especially when talking to my children. I remember when I was a child, the old people often said: "The chins will fall off from the cold during the Laba period." Comparatively speaking, it seems that it was really colder than it is now. Words such as freezing cold, ice and snow, and dripping water turning into ice are all words that can be used to describe it. Of course, it has something to do with the fact that the equipment for house insulation and heating at that time was not advanced and people's clothing to keep out the cold was thin. "Three, nine, forty-nine, don't take action." The family huddled at home, the children repeated monotonous games on the kang, and the adults did their own work around the fire pot. When I told the children about this, they were surprised and full of doubts. Are some of the plots fictional? Are those objects treasured in museums? How does it look like something you saw in a movie?

Secondly, there are also "delicious foods" on Laba day - Laba rice and Laba porridge are available, and they are definitely a "big meal". For us at that time, the temptation was particularly huge, and perhaps it was the best gift given to us in this cold winter. Laba rice is yellow rice, made from large yellow rice, also called sticky rice. Since the planting area at that time was small and the yield was low, most of it had to be ground into flour to make bean buns, which was basically a winter ration. Only a small portion is left to cook occasionally. This is because things are rare and expensive, and there are very few opportunities to eat. All yellow rice is particularly fragrant. In addition, when eating, a special ingredient-pork oil is added. A bowl of steaming, fragrant, golden yellow rice, plus a spoonful of meat oil, adds to the aroma. Put it in front of you, just smell it without eating it, it is also "drunk", it is simply mouth-watering. It would not be an exaggeration to say that kids are already salivating. When you eat it, it smells delicious in your heart. There was a beautiful saying at the time about eating yellow rice during the Laba Festival: it can stick your chin together and prevent it from falling off. It sounds like today's children will laugh, just to find a good reason to eat delicious food or treat themselves, and it is just a custom that has been passed down for thousands of years. But at that time, not only children believed it, but adults probably believed it too. No one has ever seen whether yellow rice can stick to the chin, but there is indeed a "magic" in eating yellow rice, which is that it is particularly resistant to freezing after eating it, which also adds credibility to that statement. Later I learned that yellow rice with meat oil is not easy to digest compared to other foods, and it also contains high energy, so it can withstand the cold. As for Laba porridge, I don’t have much memory. My impression is that I just took some rice, beans, vegetables, etc. that I had at home, added water and boiled it. It was mushy, with various colors and flavors mixed together, and it tasted particularly delicious. Eat it, it's very sweet. Nowadays, yellow rice has disappeared and has been replaced by white glutinous rice; Laba porridge does not have the earthy color and earthy fragrance that is produced at home, but is prepared by supermarkets for seasonal reasons. All these, the color, aroma and taste are completely different from those of the past.

The third is that after Laba Festival, the most important festival in people’s minds - the Spring Festival is not far away. "Children, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba." At the beginning of Laba, people, especially children, start counting the days on their fingers, as if the "year" is tomorrow. That kind of sadness comes from the heart. In the eyes of children, the "year" is a new suit of clothes, a few colorful candies, steaming dumplings, a few wrinkled New Year's money, a few gunpowder-smelling and bright firecrackers... Just thinking about these is enough to make you smile from ear to ear. Not to mention, you can still be one year older. At the time, it seemed that you would be able to do many things that you couldn't do after that. Thinking of these now, there is still a touch of joy floating in my heart. I am full of confidence in that distant longing and have never doubted it. When you talk about this to today's children, I'm afraid most of them will dismiss it and ask, "Where did the guest come from?"

As Laba approaches, some things that cannot be explained become more and more obvious. The farther away... Perhaps, one day, children will say: "In the year of my grandfather's grandfather, Laba..."

Sticky yellow rice mixed with lard, and variegated vegetable porridge fried in the stove.

The sweet smell in my tongue reminds me of yesterday’s dream, but it remains as cold as before.