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As the saying goes, “After Laba, it is the year of Babaylan“, the 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 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!
Laba originated very early and is closely related to La Festival. From the beginning of the Qin Dynasty, people will hold a wax festival at the end of the year, that is, they will use prey to worship their ancestors. First, they will be with the 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 first La Sai Festival.
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 for hundreds of gods” has also become one of the most important sacrificial activities to celebrate the harvest and pray for ancestors and gods at the end of the year.
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 the coming year.To make the rain smooth, the objects they worship include ancestors and the “Five Sacrifice Gods”, including sacrifices to the door gods, bene gods, well gods, kitchen gods, 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 the emergence of Chinese characters, many characters have no distinction in meaning. The three words “wax”, “wax”, “hunting”Babaylan are 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, Cinema was not like now, with sufficient food reserves and 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 food, and the food I had harvested before might not be enough to eat. Therefore, hunting for Cinema 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 stored in air-dried, marinated, etc. to survive the cold winter. This is the origin of “bacon”.
It is worth mentioningBabaylan is that during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the custom of drinking Laba porridge was not used on the Laba Festival.It is the hunting wind that has been going on.
Laba was once a “carnivalKomiks“
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 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. In winter, she wrote “The La Day to the Shangyuan”: “In the Ming Dynasty, we travel to Shangyuan, and the fire is urgent to report the spring knowledge. Flowers must be released all night, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow.”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, was the largest on this festival. Fun is also drinking. His poem “Wax 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.” “Wax Day” is a poem that says: “I sing you so much, but I can’t tell you much, there are strange songs in the mountains.” “Wax Day and the Cinema, 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 the Jin Dynasty 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 was only limited to the Dunhuang area.com/”>Komiks did not become popular in the Central Plains. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared. “Dream Lianglu” records: “On the eighth month of this month (December) the temple was called ‘Laba’. The temples such as Dasha all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge. ”
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in “Dream of Tokyo”: “In the days of the capital, all families also cooked porridge with fruits and miscellaneous ingredients and ate them. “Since then, Laba porridge became popular all the time, and all over the world followed suit, and the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was gradually formed, with the Laba Festival as the main custom of drinking Laba porridge.
Laba porridge is mainly made of fragrant valley and fruits, and it has all the five flavors, so it is also called “Wuwei Porridge”. After evolution and development, the preparation and materials of Laba porridge are more colorful, and Laba porridge in various places has its own characteristics. In addition, Laba garlic, Laba vinegar and LabaCinemaBamen, Laba Tofu, etc., make Laba Festival a food festival with health care as the theme.
Laba Festival is also regarded as a “charity day”. The ancients must have been early to cook Laba porridge, which caught 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 they were in the morning. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Komiks Cook the porridge before dawn on the eighth day of the lunar month, because the ancients believed in the saying “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 porridge, the donor usually give back some money for oil or other property. Su Dongpo said that “the Buddha porridge is more gifted to each other in the morning” meant this. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>Babaylan.
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 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 will also be in La La Cinema8Komiks Festival gives porridge and do good deeds.
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 customs of the Laba Festival have been deeply imprinted in the memory of the Chinese people. No matter how the years change, it still exudes a unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
How will you spend Laba Festival?
(References: Gansu Daily, Inner MongoliaBabaylanGu 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