Laba Festival is also known as Laba Festival, Laba Festival, the enlightenment day of maharaja or Buddha. It turns out that in ancient times, people celebrated the harvest and thanked their ancestors and gods (including door gods, household gods, house gods, kitchen gods and well gods). In addition to ancestor worship, people have to chase the epidemic. This activity originated from Nuo in ancient times (the ritual of exorcising ghosts and avoiding epidemics in ancient times). One of the prehistoric medical methods was to exorcise ghosts and treat diseases. As a witchcraft activity, Xinhua and other places in Hunan still retain the custom of beating drums to drive away epidemics in the twelfth lunar month. Later it evolved into a religious festival to commemorate the enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni. The Xia dynasty called Lari "Jiaping", the Shang dynasty called it "moss" and the Zhou dynasty called it "big wax". Because it is held in December, it is called the twelfth lunar month, and La Worship is called the twelfth lunar month. The twelfth lunar month in the pre-Qin period was the third day after the establishment of the winter solstice, and it was fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
"Shuowen" contains: "Three days after the winter, La Worship will be guarded by 100 gods." It can be seen that the third garrison day after the winter solstice is the twelfth month. Later, due to the intervention of Buddhism, the twelfth lunar month was changed to the eighth day of December, and it has since become a custom.
Why is it called "La" at the end of the year has three meanings: First, "La" means the alternation of old and new (recorded in Sui Shu etiquette); The second is "wax hunters hunt together", which means that hunting in the wild can make animals sacrifice their ancestors and gods. "wax" comes from "meat", which means meat for "winter sacrifice"; Thirdly, it is said that "those who wax the wax will drive away the epidemic and welcome the spring", and Laba Festival is also called "Buddhist Daoism Festival" and "Daoism Society". In fact, it can be said that the eighth day of December is the origin of Laba Festival. According to legend, Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, practiced in the mountains and sat quietly for six years. He was so hungry that he wanted to give up the pain. He happened to meet a shepherdess and gave him chyle. After eating, he sat cross-legged under the bodhi tree, became a Buddha in early December, and held a "Buddhist Festival" to commemorate it. Believers in China are very devout, so they merged with "La Ri" to form the "Laba Festival" and held a grand ceremony.
[2] The reason why the twelfth lunar month is called "twelfth lunar month" is explained in Sacrifice: "Wax man, Sawyer, in December, everything meets and is sought after." "wax" is similar to "wax" Sacrificing ancestors is called "wax" and sacrificing gods is called "wax". "Wax" and "Wax" are both sacrificial activities, which are mostly held in December of the lunar calendar, so people call December the twelfth month.
The twelfth lunar month is the end of the year. People in ancient times had nothing to do, so they went out hunting. One is to get more food to make up for the lack of food, and the other is to sacrifice wild animals to ancestors and gods to pray for longevity and avoid disasters.
There are many folk customs in the twelfth lunar month On the eighth day of December, "Laba porridge" is made of miscellaneous grains. Some farmers even throw Laba porridge on doors, fences and woodpiles as a sacrifice to the God of Grains. 1February 23rd, commonly known as "off-year", people in some areas will show incense wax knives and candied fruit as offerings to the Kitchen God. In fact, most people don't believe in "God" or anything. It's just following some old customs, or just for fun.