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As the saying goes, Babaylan “Laba is the New Year”, and the atmosphere of the New Year gradually became stronger from Laba. January 18, 2024 is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the Laba Festival in traditional Chinese culture. Today there are three “big things” that can be done, 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 Basic Annals of Qin”: “Twelve years, the first La.” It means that in the twelfth year of Qin Huiwenjun, the Qin State located in the west imitated the customs of the Central Plains region and held the first La Cinema Festival.
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 “Duduanjue” clearly pointed out: “La is the end of the year.” Large-scale sacrificial activities in the twelfth lunar month have become 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 and Monthly Orders once 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 the door gods, the Be gods, the Well gods, the Kitchen Gods, the Earth gods, etc.Sacrifice. 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”, a series of pre-New Year sacrificial activities in the Babaylan series, is the inheritance of the ancient La Festival.
CinemaThe eight customs were originally hunting
In the early days of the emergence of Chinese characters, many characters with similar meanings were inseparable. 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.
Ying Shao, a native of 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 their ancestors. The meat that cannot be eaten at this time will be saved in the form of air-dried, marinated, etc. to survive the cold winter. This is the origin of “babaylan”.
It is worth mentioning that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the custom of drinking Laba porridge was not in the Laba Festival, but the hunting wind has been passed down.
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”. “Book of Rites·Miscellaneous Notes” records Komiks: “Zi Gong looked at wax. Confucius said, ‘Is it a joy to give me?’ replied, ‘Everyone in a country is crazy, and I don’t know how to give me happiness.'” ZiCinema Gong (Duanmu Ci) after visiting the “Wax Festival”, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan expressed his discomfort to “all are crazy”. Confucius said that it took 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 plum blossoms were left, but she insisted that all 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 Yuan, the first pastoral poet in our country, is clearly the greatest pleasure in this festival is drinking. His poem “Wax Day” says: “BabaylanI 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 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 “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 Cinema meat is like a hill, and there is Komiks wine is like a spring. There are food like forests and goods like mountains. ”
There are so many places to buy and buy in the west. It can be seen 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’. Dasha and other temples all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge. ”
The Cinema Tokyo Menghualu” in the Southern Song Dynasty recorded: “The people of the capital also cooked porridge with fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and ate it. “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, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks mainly uses fragrant valley and fruits as raw materials, and is full of five 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. Before the eighth day of the lunar month, Komiks was about to catch fire. 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 8th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the 19th day of the href=”https://comicmov.com/”>KomiksSome money for gas or donating other property. Su Dongpo’s so-called “the Buddha’s porridge is more given 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, 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, mainly including creationCustoms such as wax vinegar and wine, shaving children’s hair, piercing women’s ears, and asking names.
The customs of Laba Festival have been deeply imprinted in the memory of Chinese people. No matter how time changes, it still radiates with unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival?
(References: Gansu Daily, Inner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, CinemaChina NewBabaylan, etc.)
TopicsBabaylanHost | Reporter Zheng Zongmin