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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 “big things” you can do, drink porridge, soak garlic, and welcome 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 Komiks to see 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 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.” The large-scale sacrificial activities in Cinema during the twelfth lunar month had become a customary custom at that time. “Salvation for hundreds of gods” has also become one of the most important sacrifice activities to celebrate the harvest at the end of the year and to pray for ancestors and gods.
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 “Tianzong” for good weather to come. The objects they worshiped included ancestors and the “Five Sacrifice Gods”, including sacrifices to the door gods, the Ho 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.
Sakura FestivalThe customs of the times have been passed down from generation to generation. 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 capacity to allow everyone to live Komiks 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 preserved by air-dried, marinated, etc., and is used to survive the cold winter. This is the origin of “bacon”. Babaylan
It is worth mentioning that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the custom of drinking Laba porridge was not the custom of drinking Laba porridge during the Laba Festival, but the hunting trend has been continuing.
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 Cinema (Duanmu Ci) expressed his discomfort to “everyone is like crazy” after visiting the “Wax Sacrifice”. 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 ZetianI once 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. Looking at a spring scenery in winter, she wrote “The Imperial Examination of the La Day”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we travel to Shangyuan, and we are eager to hear the spring. Flowers must be released overnight, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow.”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in our country, was on this festivalKomiks‘s greatest pleasure is drinking. His poem “Waste Day” 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 season of Waaste 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 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. CinemaMo
Laba porridge began to emerge in the Tang Dynasty. However, 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” is recorded: “On the eighth of this month (December) the temple is called ‘Laba’. Dasha and other temples have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge.” “Dongjing Menghualu” by Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty, “On the day of the capital, all families also cooked fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and ate them.” Since then, Laba porridge has become popular for a while, 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, Babaylan mainly uses fragrant valley and fruits as raw materials, and has all five flavors, so it is also called “Five Flavor 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 the “Civil Day” of BabaylanGood Day of the ancients, they would definitely make Laba porridge early, href=”https://comicmov.com/”>BabaylanThe fire will catch before dawn of the eighth day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th day of the 18th
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 reap rice before the arrival of 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 also showed some new changes in the festival customs based on the overall inheritance of previous 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 a unique charm and brings new wishes.Blessing and hope.
How will you spend the Laba Festival?
(See KomiksExamination materials: Gansu Daily, KomiksInner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, Beijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangxi CinemaMing.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter CinemaZheng Zongmin