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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 how the ancients celebrated Laba Festival!
Laba’s Cinema originated very early and was closely related to La Festival. Since the pre-Qin period, people will hold a wax festival at the end of the year, which means using 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 when the La Festival was held was called the “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 “Ordinary Death” clearly pointed out: “La is the end of the year.” Large-scale sacrificial activities in the twelfth lunar month have become the customary atmosphere of the agreement 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 and 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 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 are originally hunting
In the early days of the emergence of Chinese characters, many similar characters have no distinction between them. 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 was 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 has become a necessary means of production in winter.
The Eastern Han people Babaylan Shao’s “Customs and Common Meanings” record: “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 Laba Festival did not have the custom of drinking Laba porridge, but the hunting trend has always been followed.
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 crazy, and the joy to give me is unknown.'” Zi Gong (Duanmu Ci) finished his visit.After the wax festival, they said that “Cinema” was not understood. Confucius said that it took a year to nourish this day, and the truth was not something you could understand.
In the Tang Dynasty, Laba was very concerned about Laba Festival, from the folk to the palace. The main festivals of the Laba Festival in the Tang Dynasty include cooking “medicine and food” and lighting lamps. In addition, on Laba Day, they also held hunting, garden tours and other activities.
Wu Zetian visited Shangyuan on Laba Day. On the cold day of Laba, there were only ice and snow left. href=”https://comicmov.com/”>CinemaPlum blossoms bloom alone, but she insisted on a hundred flowers blooming. Looking at a spring scenery in winter, she wrote the “La Day Execution of the Imperial Palace”: “In the Ming Dynasty, I went to Shangyuan and heard the news of the spring. Flowers must be set off overnight, don’t wait for the morning breeze to blow. ”
Tao Yuanming, the first pastoral poet in my country, has the greatest fun in this festival. He is drinking. His poem “Wax Day” says: “I sing you, how much is it in the wine. I haven’t figured out much, there are strange songs in Zhangshan. “Wao Day, I recite poems with wine and endless fun.
After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the La Day became more and more lively, and there was also the nature of purchasing New Year’s goods for the New Year. The poem “Dao Wax” by Pei Xiu of the Jin Dynasty said: “Scale gathers in the capital and trade is intertwined. The flowers chase each other and turn their backs into curtains. There is meat like a hill, and there is wine like a spring. There are food like forests and goods like mountains. ”
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 and was not popular in the Central Plains. By the Song Dynasty, Laba porridge officially appeared. “Dream of Lianglu” records: “On the eighth month of this month (December) the temple was called “Laba”. Dasha and other temples all have five flavor porridge, called Laba porridge. ”Babaylan
Meng Yuanlao of the Southern Song Dynasty recorded in “Dream of Tokyo”: “The people of the capital also cooked porridge with fruits and miscellaneous materials and ate it. “Since then, Laba porridge became popular all the time, and all over the country followed suit. In early December, Komiks‘s Laba Festival gradually formed, with drinking Laba porridge as the main custom.
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 porridge, 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 “the sooner the Laba porridge, the better.”
Laba porridge cooked by monks and nuns in temples in the Song DynastyBabaylan is also called “Buddha porridge”. The Buddha porridge is given to the donor, and the two helps the poor. After receiving the Buddha porridge, the donor usually give back some money for oil or 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 from Komiks 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 early stage of monks in the monks began to beg for alms to collect rice.I collected rice along the gate. On that day, I made porridge and gave it to the poor, and I was with others. “Many non-Buddhist families will also give porridge and do good deeds on the Laba Festival.
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 Laba Festival customs have been deeply imprinted in the memory of Chinese people. No matter how the years change, it still exudes a unique charm and brings new blessings and hopes.
CinemaLaba Festival, how will you spend the Laba Festival?
(References: Gansu Daily, Inner Mongolia Daily, Dazhong Daily, Wenhui Daily, CCTV News, People’s Daily, KomiksBeijing Daily Client, Guangzhou Daily, Guangming.com, China News Network, etc.)
Topic Host | Reporter Zheng Zongmin