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The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is Laba Festival every year, and "La" means "twelfth lunar month". Why is the twelfth lunar month called "twelfth lunar month" Historians point out that in ancient China, "waxing" was originally a ritual called "waxing". In Shang Dynasty, people held four major sacrifices in spring, summer, autumn and winter with hunted animals every year, offering sacrifices to ancestors and the gods of heaven and earth. Among them, the winter festival is the largest and most grand. Later, the winter sacrifice was called "La Worship". Therefore, people call December "twelfth month" and the day when winter festivals are held is called "twelfth day". There is no fixed date for the twelfth lunar month. It was not until the Han Dynasty that it was clear that the third garrison day after the winter was "La Ri", instead of eating Laba porridge, it was a day of offering sacrifices to the gods. It was not until the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was fixed as the "Laba Festival". People worship their ancestors and the gods of heaven and earth to pray for good harvest and good luck.

As we all know, the most common custom of Laba Festival is to drink Laba porridge. The history of Laba porridge has been controversial, and there are roughly the following legends:

1 Buddhist practice says:

It is said that Laba porridge comes from India. The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of Sudoku king in northern India (now Nepal). He saw that all beings were suffering physically and mentally, dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, and gave up the throne and became a monk. After six years of asceticism, he became a Buddha under the bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In the past six years, I have only eaten one hemp and one meter a day. Later generations did not forget his sufferings and ate porridge as a souvenir on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year. "Laba" became "Buddha's Day".

2 "Sheep Cowboy Helps Buddha" says:

This is the most widely circulated and recognized statement. Legend has it that Buddha Sakyamuni left the palace to practice and practiced hard for many years, with nothing. He wanted to take a bath in the river to clear his head, but after the bath, he was too weak to climb back to the shore. Shepherd Su Yeda (meaning healthy) pulled him ashore and gave him a bowl of porridge cooked with rice and chestnuts. After the meal, the Buddha was full of energy and woke up under the bodhi tree. This day happens to be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Buddhist disciples regard porridge as a good medicine. Every year, temples provide porridge to Buddhists on Laba Festival and give it to the whole world. Affected by this, the folk custom of Laba eating porridge gradually formed in China.

3 "Qin Changcheng Architecture" says:

Legend has it that when Qin built the Great Wall, migrant workers ate and lived on the construction site all the year round, but they had to rely on their families to deliver meals. Some people can't deliver meals in time because their homes are far away or poor. One year on the day of Laba, migrant workers finished their meals. Everyone searched the food bags, collected all kinds of food such as beans and rice, and ate a pot of porridge, but eventually they starved to death. In order to mourn these migrant workers, Laba porridge is eaten every year when they arrive in Laba.

4 "bow wow Repentance" said:

Legend has it that a man named bow wow was lazy and playful, and lived a luxurious life. He soon destroyed the property left by his parents. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, others began to prepare new year's goods, but his granary bottomed out. Looking at the tearful daughter-in-law Lahua, bow wow was ashamed. Neighbors heard that the host had a bowl of rice and a bowl of beans, so they brought all kinds of dishes. Wax flowers combined the food and vegetables sent by the villagers and cooked a pot of porridge, which solved the temporary difficulties. From then on, bow wow not only worked hard, but also lived frugally and soon became rich. In order to make Baowo remember this lesson forever, Lahua cooks Laba porridge every year. In order to educate their children with the story of bow wow, people also eat Laba porridge on this day, which has gradually become a custom.

5 "The black sheep of the Zhang family" said

There is a folk story that a rich man had a son in his later years and loved him very much. Just after the old couple died, the boy squandered his family and soon became a poor man. On the day of Laba, the north wind roared and Xiao Zhang was hungry and cold. He swept all the grain depots at home and cooked a pot of porridge, but people froze to death and starved to death before the porridge was cooked. In the future, people will get some miscellaneous grains and beans to cook porridge in Laba to warn future generations not to be extravagant in everything, or even porridge will not be eaten.

Don't underestimate Laba Festival, it is a festival connecting the past with the future. Its arrival marks the official start of the traditional Spring Festival in China. The folk song says, "Laba, Laba, children want guns and girls want flowers." From this day on, people began to buy new year's goods to welcome the annual Spring Festival. Another folk song said, "Old lady, don't be sad. After Laba, the Chinese New Year will be celebrated. Laba porridge, drink it for a few days, and cheer up Lala for twenty-three. . . . . . "Laba has arrived, can the Spring Festival be far behind? In other words, with the Winter Festival as the prelude and Laba as the symbol, China people who have worked hard for a year begin to enter the most comfortable time of the year, and the carnival month of the Han nationality is about to begin.

The main folk customs of traditional Laba Festival

① Drink Laba porridge

Speaking of Laba Festival, it cannot be said that drinking Laba porridge is the most common and important custom in the festival. Laba porridge, also known as Qibao Wuwei porridge, was cooked with red beans and glutinous rice in ancient times, and later the materials were gradually increased. People in the Southern Song Dynasty carefully compiled "Old Wulin Stories" and said, "Cooking porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmon mushrooms and persimmon chestnuts is called Laba porridge." Up to now, people in many parts of our country still keep the custom of eating Laba porridge. With different materials, glutinous rice, red beans, jujube, chestnuts, peanuts, ginkgo, lotus seeds, lilies and so on are commonly used to cook sweet porridge. There are also longan, longan meat and candied fruit, which are equivalent to cooking. Other materials can be described as everything.

According to ancient customs, people began to wash rice and materials from the seventh night of the twelfth lunar month, then put the pot on the fire and cook it slowly with low fire until the next morning. After laba porridge is made, it should be offered to the gods and ancestors first, then distributed to friends and relatives, and finally the whole family will eat laba porridge together.

An article describes the process of making Laba porridge in the past and the scene of Laba Festival: "There are many kinds of Laba porridge in China. Among them, Beijing is the most exquisite, and there are many items mixed in white rice, including red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longan, hazelnuts, grapes, ginkgo, water chestnut, moss, roses, red beans and peanuts, totaling no less than 20 kinds. On the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, people began to get busy, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing stones and picking carefully, then cooking in the middle of the night and stewing with low fire until Laba porridge was cooked the next morning. More sophisticated people should first carve fruits into human shapes, animals and patterns, and then cook them in a pot. What is more distinctive is that fruit lions are put in Laba porridge. Fruit lion is a lion made of several kinds of fruits, with peeled and dried crisp dates as the lion's body, half walnut kernel as the lion's head, peach kernel as the lion's foot and sweet almond as the lion's tail. Then stick them together with sugar and put them in a porridge bowl, just like a little lion. If the bowl is bigger, you can put two lions or four little lions. More exquisite, it is made of jujube paste, red bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other foods in various colors, and kneaded into statues of the Eight Immortals, the birthday girl, Luohan and so on. This decorative Laba porridge can only be seen on the altar of a big temple in the past. After laba porridge is cooked, you should sacrifice to God and ancestors first. After that, give it to relatives and friends, and be sure to send it out before noon. Finally, the whole family eats together. It is a good sign that the leftover Laba porridge will be preserved after eating for a few days, indicating that there is more than one year. If you give porridge to the poor, you will give it to yourself. "

② Other dietary customs.

Tofu: It is a folk specialty in Ganxian County, Anhui Province. Before and after Laba on the eve of the Spring Festival, every household in Ganxian county should dry dried bean curd. People call this naturally dried tofu "Laba tofu".

Emerald Jasper Laba Garlic: Pickling Laba Garlic is a custom in northern China, especially in the north. As the name implies, garlic is brewed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the materials are very simple, namely vinegar and garlic cloves. The method is also extremely simple. Put the peeled garlic cloves in a sealable container, such as a jar or bottle, then pour in vinegar, seal the mouth and put it in a cold place. Slowly, the garlic soaked in vinegar will turn green, and finally the whole body will turn green, like jade and jasper.

Laba noodles: In some places in northern China where little or no rice is produced, people eat Laba noodles instead of Laba porridge. The next day, on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the whole family will eat Laba noodles.

Boil "five beans": In some places, the porridge boiled in Laba is called "five beans" instead of "Laba porridge". Some are boiled on the day of Laba, some are boiled on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, and some are "sparrow heads" made of flour and boiled with rice and beans. It is said that Laba people eat "sparrow's head", and sparrows have a headache, which will not harm crops in the coming year. This kind of boiled "five beans" is not only for eating, but also for relatives and neighbors. When you eat it every day, heat it and eat it together until the 23 rd of the twelfth lunar month, which symbolizes more than a year.

There is also a folklore about boiling five beans. According to legend, in the Song Dynasty, when Ouyang Xiu was not in power, he made a living by selling articles. I met a woman named Li, a member of foreign nationality, who chose her husband by floating color. After Ouyang Xiu won the lottery, Mr. Li was too poor and loved the rich to drive his daughter out of the house. Miss Li is a loyal woman, vowing to marry Ouyang Xiu all her life. From then on, Ouyang Xiu gave his wife the money to sell articles. His wife is frugal. I only eat bean porridge every morning. When I have difficulties, my wife will take out the money she has saved on weekdays and give it to Ouyang Xiu as a travel expense. Ouyang Xiu asked where the money came from, and his wife said it was saved by eating bean porridge. Later, Ouyang Xiu wanted to be the top scholar, became a big official, and took his wife to his post. His wife was afraid that he would become a high official and forget the basics, so she cooked him five kinds of bean porridge on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month. Ouyang Xiu tasted it and even said, "It tastes terrible! Hey! " The wife went on telling her past sufferings. Ouyang Xiu was impressed by his wife. He made a rule for his family to eat bean porridge on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month every year. When it spread to the people, it formed the custom of cooking five beans.

Folk song day: mung bean green, do not forget the bitterness; Don't forget to make a fuss about soybean yellow; Cowpea, don't forget vegetable soup; Broad bean silkworm, do not forget the cold at night; Doug, being an official is not greedy.

Because the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month is very close to the eighth day, the locals confuse boiled five beans with laba porridge, which is called laba porridge. In fact, Wudou and Laba porridge are two different concepts.

③ Other customs

The central plains has the custom of feeding jujube trees with laba porridge. Cut the bark of jujube tree with a knife and axe, and paste Laba porridge into the axe mark, which is called feeding jujube tree. In this way, jujube trees can bear more fruits in the coming year. There is a folk saying that "five stones are gained by chopping an axe, and ten points are gained by chopping a knife." It shows people's desire for a bumper harvest.

In some places, on the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, every household should give their children "frozen ice". In a bowl of clear water, adults carve out various flowers from carrots and white radishes, put them on outdoor windowsills, and use coriander as green leaves. Early the next morning, if the ice in the bowl freezes, it indicates a bumper wheat harvest in the coming year. Then pour the ice out of the bowl. They are colorful, crystal clear and beautiful. One piece for each child, smoking while playing. It is said that in the early morning, some farmers go to rivers and ponds to freeze and pour the ice back into their fields or dung piles, praying for good weather and bumper harvests in the coming year and expressing the good wishes of working people for a bumper harvest.