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As the saying goes, “Laba is the New Year”, BabaylanThe 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 the traditional Chinese culture. There are three “big things” to do today, drinking porridge, soaking garlic, and welcoming the New Year!
When it comes to 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 was 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 Komiks in the Central Plains and held the La Festival for the first time.
The day of holding the La Festival is called the “La Day”. The La Festival in the Han Dynasty was on the third Xu day of December each year, and 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 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 to 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. Babaylan
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. The objects they worshiped included ancestors and the “Five Sacrifice Gods”, including sacrifices to the door gods, the Be 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 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 capacityBabaylan to let everyone 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 previously harvested 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. 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 it was aThe hunting wind continued.
Laba was once a “carnival”
Cinema. It was 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, everyone from the folk to the palace was very concerned about Laba. The main festivals of the Laba Festival in the Tang Dynasty were boiling “medicine and food” and lighting lamps. In addition, on Laba Day, they will also hold hunting, gardening and other activities.
Wu Zetian visited Shangyuan on Laba. On the cold day of Laba, there are only plum blossoms blooming alone in the snow and ice, but she insists on a hundred flowers blooming together. In the winter, she wrote the “Opinion of the Imperial Palace on the La Day”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we traveled to Shangyuan, and the spring was urgently heard. Flowers must be released overnight, and don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow.”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, had the greatest fun on this festival. His “WaxCinema href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks” poem says: “I sing you so much, how much is it in the wine? I can’t tell you much, there are strange songs in the mountains.” During the wax day and season, I recite poems with wine, and the joy is endless. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Cinema was becoming more and more lively, and it also became the nature of purchasing New Year’s goods for the New Year. The poem “Da Wax” by Pei Xiu of Jin says: “The scales gather in the capital, and the trade is moved in a staggered manner. The flowers chase each other and turn the sleeves into curtains. There are meat like a hill, wine like a spring. There are food like a forest, and goods like a mountain.”
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 is only limited to the Dunhuang region and has not become popular in the Central Plains region. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared. “Dream Lianglu” records: “On the eighth day of this month (December) the temple is called ‘Laba’. Dasha and other temples all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge.” “Dongjing Menghualu” by Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty records: “On the day of the capital, all families also cook porridge with fruits and miscellaneous materials. “Since then, Laba porridge became popular, and various places followed suit, and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was the Laba porridge, gradually forming the Laba Festival, which is the main custom of drinking Laba porridge.
Laba porridge is mainly made of fragrant valley and fruits, and is full of five flavors, so it is also called “five flavors porridge”. After evolution and development, the recipes and ingredients of Laba porridge are more colorful, and Laba porridge in various places has its own characteristics. In addition, Laba porridge has evolved from 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 of the twelfth lunar month. Some people started cooking at night on the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month to ensure that the porridge was cooked before dawn of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, 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. After receiving the Buddha’s porridge, the donor will usually give back some money for lamps and oil or other property. This is what Su Dongpo said, “The Buddha’s porridge is more given to each other in the morning.”
In the Qing Dynasty, for the purpose of “helping poverty”, monks in some places began begging for alms to recruit rice before the Laba Festival. The “Yanqing County Chronicle” of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty recorded that in Yanqing, Beijing, “the early monks’ borderWhen I raised rice, I made porridge and gave it to the poor, and I was with others. “Many non-Buddhist families will also give porridge and do good deeds on Laba Festival.
The Laba Festival customs at this time have 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.
The Laba Festival customs have been deeply imprinted in the memory of Chinese people. No matter how the years change, it still exudes unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival?
(References: Gansu Daily, KomiksInner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China New href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanWen.com, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin