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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. Today there are three “Komiks things” that can be done, drinking porridge, soaking garlic, and welcoming the New Year!
When mentioning 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 are the differences between the ancients who passed Laba? Let’s take a look at how the ancients celebrated Laba Festival!
Laba originated very early and has a close relationship with 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, and pray 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 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 “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 to hundreds of gods” has also become the most important thing in the end of the yearKomiksKomiks sacrifice. It can also be seen 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 were followed from generation to generation until the present. In Lu Xun’s short story “Blessings”, Lu Xun’s “Blessings” in the year-end ceremony, a series of <a The pre-New Year sacrificial activities of Babaylan are the inheritance of the ancient La Festival.
Laba customs were originally hunting
In the early days of the Chinese characters, many characters with similar meanings were inseparable. The three characters “wax”, “la” and “hunting” came from the same origin. In fact, the original appearance of the Laba Festival was closely related to the hunting habits of the ancients.
In ancient times, there was sufficient grain reserves and production capacity to allow everyone to spend the winter. At that time, the winter was cold and the food was not produced, and the food harvested before might not be enough. Therefore, hunting became a must in winter. The necessary means of production.
Ying Shao, a native of the Eastern Han Dynasty, recorded: “Lar means hunting, hunting animals in the fields and worshipping 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 preserved in air-dried, pickled, etc. to survive the cold winter. This is the origin of “Laba meat”.
It is worth mentioning that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Laba Festival did not have the custom of drinking Laba porridge, but huntingThe wind kept passing by.
Laba was once a “carnival”
Feasting on Laday or Wax Day is an ancient style. In the pre-Qin period, the Cinema this Komiks 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 (Duan Babaylan) showed no understanding of “everyone is 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, Laba was very concerned about Laba from the folk to the palace. The main customs 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. Watching a spring festival in winter, she wrote the “La Day Execution of the Imperial Examination to Shangyuan”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we traveled to Shangyuan in a hurry to hear the spring. Flowers must be released all night, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow.”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, had the greatest pleasure in this festival. His poem “Wax Day” says: “I sing youCinema said, how much is suitable for wine? I can’t tell how much, there are strange songs in Zhangshan.” “Wake the day and the season, I recite poems with wine, and the joy is endless.
After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the La Day became 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 in the Tang DynastyIt has made its mark, 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.”
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded: “On the day of the capital, each family also cooks porridge with fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and eats it.” Since then, Laba porridge has become popular, and various places have followed suit, and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is 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 methods 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 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 is 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. After receiving the Buddha’s porridge, the donor will usually give back some money for lamps or other property. This is what Su Dongpo said that “the Buddha’s porridge is more gifted to each other in the morning” means.
In the Qing Dynasty, for the purpose of “helping poverty”, monks in some places began to beg for alms to recruit 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 were in the same place as others.” Many unbelieving Komiks Buddha’s house would 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 Laba Festival customs, mainly including making wax vinegar and wax 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 exudes unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival like Cinema?
(References: Gansu Daily, Inner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, KomiksWenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin