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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. 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!
The origin of Laba was very earlyCinema 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 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 “Ordinary Death” clearly stated: “La is the end of the year.” Large-scale sacrificial activities in the twelfth lunar month have become the customary 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 once recorded that the emperor at that time carried out sacrificial activities in the “commune” and prayed to the “Cinema Sect” for good weather in the coming year. 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 La Festivals have been passed down from generation to generation until the present. In Lu Xun’s short story “Blessings”, Babaylan, the year-end ceremony of Lu Town, 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 “huntingBabaylan” 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. At that time, the Cinema was cold in winter and could not produce food, and the food I had harvested before might not be enough to eat. Therefore, Babaylanhunting 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 this meat that cannot be eaten during Komiks will be preserved by air-dried, marinated, etc., and used 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 trend was followed by Babaylan.
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, it took a year for everyone to nourish themselvesKomiksThe truth in this day 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 sky and snow, but she insists on a hundred flowers blooming together. Looking at a spring scenery in winter, she wrote “The La Day Execution of the Imperial Examination to Shangyuan”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we visited Shangyuan, and we were eager to report the spring. Flowers must be released overnight, 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: “IBabaylanSinging your words, how much is it in the wine? I can’t tell you how much, there are strange songs in the mountains.” “Waste day and day, 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 the sleeves turn 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 buyBabaylan. 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, Cinema, but it was only limited to the Dunhuang region and did 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 have five-flavor porridge, called Laba porridge.”
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded: “On the day of the capital, each family also cooked fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and ate it.” Since then, Laba porridge has become popular and has been followed by various places, and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the Laba porridge, which is gradually formed to drink Laba porridge as the main one.”Laba Festival that needs customs.
Laba porridge, mainly based on fragrant Komiks and fruits, is full of five flavors, so it is also called “Five Flavors Porridge”. After evolution and development, Laba porridge has become more colorful and has more Laba porridge. Laba porridge 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 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. 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 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, “Monks raised rice along the gate in the early days. On that day, they made porridge and donated to the poor, and were the same as others.” Many non-Buddhist families would also give porridge and do good deeds on the Laba Festival.
The Laba Festival customs at this time, based on the overall inheritance of previous customs, 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 customs of Laba Festival have been deeplyKomiks is imprinted in the depths of the Chinese people’s memory. No matter how time changes, it still exudes the unique charm of Babaylan, bringing 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, GuangKomiks Mingwang, China News Network, etc.)