[/p>
As the saying goes, “Laba is the New Year”, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually becomes stronger from Laba. January 18, 2024 is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the Laba Festival in traditional Chinese culture. There are three “big things” to do today, drinking porridge, soaking garlic, and welcoming the New Year!
When talking about Laba, most people will think of the first “big thing” to drink Laba porridge, but they may have less knowledge of the history behind it. Where did the customs of Laba Festival come from? In different historical periods, what were the differences between the ancients passing Laba? Let’s take a look at how the ancients celebrated Laba Festival!
Laba originated very early and is closely related to La Festival. Since the pre-Qin period, people will hold a wax festival at the end of the year, that is, use prey to worship ancestors and gods of heaven and earth, praying for a bumper harvest and peace for the whole family in the coming year. There is a saying in “Records of the Grand Historian: The Bill of Qin: “Twelve years, the beginning of La.” It means that in the twelfth year of Qin Huiwenjun, the Qin State located in the west imitated the customs of the original area of Zhong and Cinema and held the La Festival for the first time.
The day of the La Festival is called the “La Day”. The La Festival in the Han Dynasty is on the third Xu day of December every year, and later generations are gradually fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong’s book “Ordinary Death” clearly stated: “La is the end of the year.” The large-scale sacrificial activities in the twelfth lunar month have become a customary trend at that time. “Salvation for hundreds of gods” has also become one of the most important sacrifice activities to celebrate the harvest and pray for ancestors and gods at the end of the year.
The Book of Rites·KomiksMonthly Order” records that the emperor at that time carried out sacrificial activities in the “Commune”, and prayed to the “Tianzong” for good weather in the coming year. The objects they worshiped included ancestors and “Five Sacrifices”ov.com/”>KomiksGod” includes sacrifices to the door god, the Bego god, the Well god, the Kitchen God, the Earth god, etc. It can also be seen from this that at that time, the names and objects of the “La Festival” were relatively complicated, and there was no dedicated sacrificial object.
The customs of the La Festival have been passed down from generation to generation until the present. In Lu Xun’s short story “Blessings”, Lu Town’s year-end ceremony “Blessings” and a series of pre-New Year sacrificial activities are the inheritance of the ancient La Festival.
Laba custom was originally hunting
In the early days of Chinese characters, many characters with similar meanings were inseparable. The three words “wax”, “wax” and “hunting” come from the same origin. In fact, the initial appearance of Laba Festival is closely related to the hunting habits of the ancients.
The ancient times were not like the present, with sufficient grain reserves and production capacity to allow everyone to spend the winter. It was cold and cold in winter at that time, and it was impossible to produce grain. The food I had harvested before might not be enough to eat. Therefore, hunting has become a necessary means of production in winter.
The “Common Meaning of the Common Meanings” by Ying Shao from the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded: “La means hunting, hunting animals in fields and worshiping ancestors.” It means that people hunt on La Day and use prey to worship ancestors. And the meat that cannot be eaten at this time will be preserved by air-dried, marinated, etc. to survive the cold winter. This is the origin of “bacon”.
It is worth mentioning that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the custom of drinking Laba porridge was not the custom of drinking Laba porridge during the Laba Festival, but the hunting trend has been continuing.
Laba was once a “carnival”
Feasting on Laday or Wax Day is an ancient style. In the pre-Qin period, this festival was even a “carnival”. “The Book of Rites·Miscellaneous Notes” records: “Zi Gong looked at wax. Confucius said, ‘Is it a joy to give me?’ replied, ‘Everyone in a country is crazy, and the joy to give me is unknown.'” Zi Gong (Duanmu Ci) finished his visit.After the wax sacrifice, Komiks expressed his discomfort to “everyone is crazy”. Confucius said href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan, it took everyone a year to nourish this day, and the truth is not something you can understand.
In the Tang Dynasty, Laba was very concerned about Laba Festival, from the folk to the palace, the main festivals of the Laba Festival in the Tang Dynasty were boiling “medicine and food” and lighting lamps. In addition, on Laba, they also held hunting, garden tours and other activities.
Wu Zetian visited Shangyuan on Laba. On the cold day of Laba, there were ice and snow, only the plum blossoms were left to bloom, but she insisted that all the flowers bloom. Looking at a spring scenery in winter, she wrote the “Laday Announcement to Shangyuan”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we visited Shangyuan, and we were eager to hear the knowledge of the spring. Flowers must be set off overnight, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow. ”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, had the greatest pleasure on this festival. His poem “Wax Day” says: “I sing you, how much is the wine. I haven’t figured out much, there are strange songs in Zhangshan. “Wao Day, I recite poems with wine and endless fun.
After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the La Day became more and more lively, and there was also the nature of purchasing New Year’s goods for the New Year. The poem “Dao Wax” by Pei Xiu of the Jin Dynasty said: “Scale gathers in the capital and trade is intertwined. The flowers chase each other and turn their backs into curtains. There is meat like a hill, and there is wine like a spring. There are food like forests and goods like mountains. ”
There are so many things to buy, which shows that the “Shopping Festival” at the end of the year is originally a traditional festival in our country.
Laba porridge appeared in the Song Dynasty
Laba porridge began to emerge in the Tang Dynasty, but it was only limited to the Dunhuang region and did not become popular in the Central Plains. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared in the stage. “Dream of Lianglu” records: “On the eighth month of this month (December) the temple was called ‘Laba’. The temples such as Dasha all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge. ”
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in “Dream of Tokyo”: “In the days of the capital, all families also cooked porridge with fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and ate them. “Since then, Laba porridge became popular, and all over the country followed suit, and in early DecemberBabaylanomicmov.com/”>CinemaEighth is Laba Day, and the Laba Festival, which is mainly used to drink Laba porridge.
Laba porridge, mainly uses fragrant valley and fruits as raw materials. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan has a full range of flavors, so it is also called “Five Flavors Porridge”. After evolution and development, the methods and ingredients of Laba porridge are more colorful, and Laba porridge in various places have their own characteristics. In addition, Laba porridge has also been transformed from Laba porridge to produce Laba garlic, Laba vinegar, Laba noodles, Laba tofu, etc., making Laba Festival a food festival with health care as the theme.
Laba Festival is also regarded as a “charity day”. The ancients would definitely make Laba porridge early, and it would catch fire before the dawn of the eighth day. Some people started cooking on the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month to ensure that they would go to the morning of the eighth day. CinemaThe porridge is cooked because the ancients believed in the saying that “the sooner you drink Laba porridge, the better.” In the Song Dynasty, the Laba porridge cooked by monks and nuns in temples was also called “Buddha porridge”. The Buddha porridge was given to the donor and helped the poor. After receiving the Buddha porridge, the donor usually give back some money for oil or other property. Su Dongpo said that “the Buddha porridge is more fed to each other in the morning” meant this.
In the Qing Dynasty, for the purpose of “helping poverty”, monks in some places began to beg for alms to collect rice before the Laba Festival. According to the “Yanqing County Chronicle” of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, “Monks Cinema In the early days, he collected rice along the gate. On that day, he made porridge and gave it to the poor, and was the same as others. “Many non-Buddhist families will also give porridge and give porridge on Laba Festival.p>
The Laba Festival customs at this time also showed some new changes in the festival customs, mainly including making wax vinegar and wax wine, shaving children’s hair, piercing women’s ears, and asking names. The Babaylan custom of Laba Festival has been deeply imprinted in the depths of the Chinese people’s memory. No matter how time changes, it still exudes a unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival?
(Reference materials: Gansu Daily, Inner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin