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As the saying goes, “Laba is the New Year”, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually begins from Laba. Komiks is rich. 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? Cinema Let’s take a look at how the ancients celebrated the 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 and held the La Festival for the first time.
The day of holding the La Festival is called “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 “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 worship include ancestors and the “Five Sacrifice Gods”, including sacrifices to the door gods, the Bego gods, the Well gods, the Kitchen Gods, the Earth Gods, etc. KomiksIt can also be seen from this that the names and objects of the “La Festival” were relatively complicated at that time, and Babaylan did not have a 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’s customs were originally hunting
In the early days of the emergence of Chinese characters, many characters have no distinction in meaning. The three words “wax”, “la” and “hunting” come from the same origin. KomiksIn fact, the initial appearance of Laba Festival is closely related to the hunting habits of the ancients.
The ancient times were not like the present, with sufficient grain reserves and Komiks 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 grain. The food I had previously harvested may 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 Babaylan Eight Festival did not drink Laba porridge. Instead, the hunting style has always followed the Komiks.
Laba was once a “carnival”
Feasting on Laday or Wax Day is an ancient style. KomiksIn 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, 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. When she saw a spring scenery in winter, she wrote “The Imperial Examination of the La Day to Shangyuan”: “In the Ming Dynasty, the fire was urgent to report the spring knowledge. 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 on this festival. His poem “Waste Day” says: “I sing you, how much is it in the wine. I can’t tell much, there are strange songs in Zhangshan.” During the wax day, I recite poems with wine, and there is endless joy. After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Babaylan was getting 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 said: “The scales gather in the capital, and the trade is moved in a staggered manner. The flowers chase each other and 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 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 Dunhuang region and did not become popular in the Central Plains region. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared. “Dream of Lianglu” records: “On the eighth day of this month (December), the temple was called “Laba”. Dasha and other temples all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge.” “Dongjing Menghualu” by Meng Yuanlao Meng of the Southern Song Dynasty records: “On the day when the capital people also cook porridge with fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and eat it.”Since then, Laba porridge became popular all the time. When Cinema was born, various places followed suit, and the eighth day of the 10th month of the second month was Laba Day, 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 Flavor Porridge”. After evolution and development, the methods and materials of Laba porridge are more colorful, and Laba porridge in various places have 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, Laba porridge cooked by monks and nuns in temples was also called “BabaylanBuddha porridge”, one is given to the donor, and two is helping the poor. After receiving the donor, he usually gives back some money for oil or donating other property. Su Dongpo’s so-called “the Buddha porridge is more gifted 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 door of Babaylan in the early days. On that day, they made porridge and donated the poor, and were the same as others. “Many non-Buddhist families will also give porridge and do good deeds during 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 previous customs. The main thing is to have the customs of 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 a unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival?
(References: Gansu Daily, Inner Mongolia Babaylan Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin