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As the saying goes, “Laba is the New Year”, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually begins from Laba. January 18, 2024 is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Babaylan, 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 the Laba Festival Babaylan!
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 Basic Annals of Qin”: “Twelve years, the first La.” It means that in the twelve years of Qin Huiwenjun, the Qin State located in the west imitated the customs of the Central Plains and held the La Festival for the first time.
The day of the La Festival is called the “La Day”. The time of the La Festival in the Han Dynasty is on the third Xu day of December every year. Later generations 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. Cinema” held large-scale sacrificial activities in the twelfth lunar month, which became a custom 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: Monthly Orders recorded that the emperor at that time carried out sacrificial activities in the “commune” and prayed to the “Tianzong” for good weather to come. The objects they worshiped included ancestors and the “Five Sacrifice Gods”, including sacrifices to the door gods, the Ho gods, the Well gods, the Kitchen Gods, the Earth Gods, etc. It can also be seen from this that the names and objects of the “La Festival” at that time 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 the emergence of Chinese characters, many Komiks have no distinction in meaning. The three words “wax”, “la” 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.
In ancient times, unlike now, there were 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 food, and the food I had harvested before might not be enough to eat. Therefore, hunting has become a necessary means of production in winter.
The “FengCinema 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. 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 Laba Festival did not have the custom of drinking Laba porridge, but the hunting wind has been following.
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 like crazy, and the joy to give me is not known.'” Zi Gong (Duanmu Ci) expressed his discomfort to “all like crazy”. Confucius said that it took you a year to nourish this day, and the truth is not something you can understand.
In the Tang Dynasty, the people of the people were found to be together.ov.com/”>Komiks went to the palace to pay attention to Laba. The main festivals of the Laba Festival in the Tang Dynasty include cooking “medicine and food” and lighting lamps. In addition, on Laba, they also hold hunting, garden tours and other activities.
Wu Zetian visited Shangyuan on Laba. On Laba cold day, there were ice and snow, only the plum blossoms were left to bloom, but she insisted that all the flowers bloom. In winter, she wrote the “Laday Imperial Announcement on the Laba Festival”: “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 wind to blow. ”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, had the greatest pleasure on this festival. His poem “WaxCinema” says: “I sing you, how much is it in the wine. I haven’t figured out much, there are strange songs in Zhangshan. “Wao Day, I recite poems with wine and endless joy.
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 “Da 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 Cinema area of Dunhuang and did not become popular in the Central Plains. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared. “MengliangKomiks Records” records: “On the eighth of this month (December) the temple was called ‘Laba’. The Babaylan temples and other temples all have five flavor porridges, called Babaylan, and are called Babaylan. ”
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in “Dream of Tokyo”: “The people of the capital also cooked porridge with fruits and miscellaneous materials and ate them.”Since then, Laba porridge became popular all the time, and all over the country followed suit, and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was gradually formed, with the main custom of drinking Laba porridge.
Laba porridge, mainly href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Cinema uses fragrant valley and fruits as raw materials, and has all kinds of flavors, so it is also called “five flavor porridge”. After evolution and development, the methods and materials of Laba porridge are more colorful, and Laba porridge in various places have their own characteristics. In addition, Laba porridge has evolved from Laba porridge, 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. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks caught fire before dawn of the eighth day. Some people started cooking on the evening of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month to ensure that the porridge was cooked before dawn of the eighth day, because the ancients believed in the saying that “the sooner the 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. The donor received the Buddha porridge at Babaylan<a After Komiks, they usually give back some money for gas or donate other property. Su Dongpo’s so-called “the Buddha’s porridge is more given to each other in the morning” means 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, in Yanqing, Beijing, “the monks raised rice along the gate in the early days. On that day, they made porridge and donated to the poor, and they were the same as others. “Many non-Buddhist families will also give porridge and do good deeds on the Laba Festival.
The Laba Festival customs at this time have also shown some new changes in the festival customs based on the overall inheritance of past customs, mainly including making wax vinegar and wax wine, shaving children’s hair, piercing women’s ears, and asking names.
Cinema Report, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin