What is the date of Laba in 2020?
Laba is a colorful festival, which is not only the prelude to the Spring Festival, but also the anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment. And its formation is related to the ancient winter festival.
In ancient times, the words "wax" and "wax" were basically universal, meaning to worship gods and ancestors in winter. Because this kind of sacrifice is held in December, it is called "twelfth month" or "twelfth month". Since the Han Dynasty, the third day to the day after beginning of winter has been regarded as "La Ri" (that is, the Winter Festival). Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the eighth day of December has been changed to "La Ri", also known as "Laba" or "Laba Festival". Since then, Laba Festival has been fixed on the eighth day of1February.
There were two main customs of Laba Festival in ancient times. First, sacrifice to ancestors. Among them, there are eight kinds of sacrificial gods: Xian Shen Si, Si Shen Si, Nong Shen, Yi Biao Shen Jia, Cat and Tiger Shen, Fang Shen, Shui Shen Yong and Insect Shen. The second is to drive away the epidemic with wax barrels, which is also called "exorcism", that is, to drive away the epidemic ghosts. The Chronicle of Jingchu written by Liang Zonggu in the Southern Dynasties records: "The eighth day of December is the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Proverbs:' wax drums ring, spring grass grows'. The villagers also played drums and wore male heads, and became King Kong warriors to drive away the epidemic and bathe to clear the evil barrier. " These customs have basically disappeared now. The most important custom with a long history and wide influence on Laba Festival is to drink Laba porridge.
Laba porridge is also called "windproof porridge". Because Laba coincides with nine cold days, drinking porridge can keep out the cold, so it is named. The usual Laba porridge is made of glutinous rice and red beans, red dates, longan, lotus seeds, peanuts, ginkgo, pine nuts and carrots. Later, different materials were used in different places. In some places, there are not only many kinds of materials, but also more exquisite production. For example, Fu Cha Dunchong in Qing Dynasty described the Laba porridge in Beijing in "The Year of Yanjing": "Laba porridge is made of yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut, red cowpea, peeled jujube paste, and externally dyed peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, sugar and jujube paste. This is much more exquisite than ordinary Laba porridge. Others only use light-colored glutinous rice, coix seed, water chestnut rice, chicken head rice, lotus seed meat and other raw materials to cook porridge, and dark miscellaneous beans are not allowed, so that the porridge cooked is white and transparent and delicate in texture. Then put the porridge in a bowl or a special porridge box, sprinkle with candied fruit, litchi meat, longan meat, peach kernel, pine nuts, dyed melon seeds and red silk, and put out patterns and patterns, which is called "eight-treasure porridge".
The recorded custom of drinking Laba porridge can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Song Mengyuan's Tokyo Dream in December says: "The eighth day of August." ... the temple held a Buddhist bathing activity and sent seven treasures and five flavors porridge to the disciples, which is called Laba porridge. Everyone is a Japanese family, and they also eat fruit porridge. "In the Southern Song Dynasty, Wu's Dream in December also said:" On the eighth day of the first month, the temple name is Laba. There are five kinds of porridge in Dasha and other temples, which are called Laba porridge. There is also red distiller's grains, made of bran milk, fruits, bamboo shoots and taro, which are used by monks or families such as Tan Shi and Gui Zhai. " Laba porridge, known as "wax medicine", was even mentioned in the meticulous "Wulin Old Story New Year's Eve Festival" in the Southern Song Dynasty: "On the eighth day, temples and people cooked porridge with walnuts, pine nuts, milk mushrooms, persimmons and chestnuts, which is called Laba porridge. Doctors also use many kinds of drugs, such as Hutoudan, Ba Shen and Tu Su, and store them in crimson capsules, which are called "wax drugs". This shows that in the Song Dynasty, the varieties of Laba porridge have been very rich, and drinking Laba porridge has also been widely popular among the people.
After the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the custom of drinking Laba porridge is still enduring. What is particularly commendable is that its intention of giving alms to help the poor has been further strengthened. Initially, porridge was mainly served in Buddhist temples. In order to thank believers and help the poor, monks often cook porridge and give alms on Laba Festival. Since then, this relationship has been widely circulated. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, not only the temples cooked porridge, but also the people rushed to follow suit, and relatives and friends gave laba porridge to each other. As Lu You said in his poem: "Today, the Buddha eats porridge, which makes Jiangcun more frugal." In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the imperial court and local governments set up porridge factories every Laba Festival to help the poor. For example, during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, laba porridge was cooked in a cauldron in Wanfuge and other places in the palace and distributed to everyone. There are also porridge sheds on the main streets of Beijing to send porridge to the poor. In addition, on this day, the emperor distributed Laba porridge to civil and military officials, and the queen also distributed porridge to concubines and maids. From the imperial court to the people, drinking Laba porridge and sending Laba porridge are regarded as an important event to express friendship and care, and Laba porridge has also become a charity to help the poor.
Besides drinking Laba porridge, Laba Festival also has some customs related to Laba porridge, which is also very interesting.
Many places have the custom of drinking Laba porridge in the morning, so porridge should be cooked before dawn. As the saying goes, "whoever smokes the chimney first, sorghum will be red and sharp." It means that whoever drinks porridge early on Laba Festival will have a bumper harvest. Some people still draw laba porridge on walls, trees and knockers. It can dispel bad luck and bring good luck. Some people sprinkle laba porridge on fruit trees, which is said to make fruit trees flourish and bear more fruits, that is, "big trees and small trees eat laba and bear more festivals in the coming year"; If you put porridge on a woman's back, common beliefs will make her have more children. ...