According to legend, Laba Festival originated from Buddhism, which is related to Sakyamuni and belongs to Buddhism. However, this statement does not stand up to elegance. In fact, Laba Festival is a traditional festival in China, which originated from the sacrificial culture of the ancient twelfth lunar month.
Laba Festival, also known as Lari Festival, Bala Festival, Maharaja or Buddha's Enlightenment Day, was originally a sacrificial ceremony to celebrate the harvest and thank ancestors and gods (including door gods, household gods, house gods, kitchen gods and well gods) in ancient times. In addition to offering sacrifices to ancestors and gods, people must also drive away epidemics. This activity originated from Nuo in ancient times (the ritual of exorcising ghosts and avoiding epidemics in ancient times). One of the prehistoric medical methods was to exorcise ghosts and treat diseases. As a witchcraft activity, Xinhua and other places in Hunan still retain the custom of beating drums to drive away epidemics in the twelfth lunar month. Later it evolved into a religious festival to commemorate the enlightenment of Buddha Sakyamuni. The Xia dynasty called Lari "Jiaping", the Shang dynasty called it "moss" and the Zhou dynasty called it "big wax". Because it is held in December, it is called the twelfth lunar month, and La Worship is called the twelfth lunar month. The twelfth lunar month in the pre-Qin period was the third day after the establishment of the winter solstice, and it was fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
"Shuowen" contains: "Three days after the winter, La Worship will be guarded by 100 gods." It can be seen that the third garrison day after the winter solstice is the twelfth month. Later, due to the intervention of Buddhism, the twelfth lunar month was changed to the eighth day of December, and it has since become a custom.
Why is it called "La" at the end of the year has three meanings: First, "La" means the alternation of old and new (recorded in Sui Shu etiquette); The second is "wax hunters hunt together", which means that hunting in the wild can make animals sacrifice their ancestors and gods. "wax" comes from "meat", which means meat for "winter sacrifice"; Three yue "wax, chasing the epidemic to welcome the spring", ("Jingchu Sui"). Laba Festival is also called "Buddhist Enlightenment Festival" and "Enlightenment Meeting". In fact, it can be said that the eighth day of December is the origin of Laba Festival.
Laba porridge and Buddhist legends
A popular saying is that drinking Laba porridge originated from Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. But this statement is contradictory. It is said that there was a pure rice country in ancient times. The prince of this country is Sakyamuni, who became a monk at the age of 29. One day, he walked to the Nile River, tired and hungry, and fainted to the ground. A shepherdess sympathized with him, so she added some wild vegetables and naked rice to her miscellaneous grains, cooked it with spring water into chyle porridge and fed it to him. I just got up, sat quietly under the bodhi tree and meditated, and finally became a Buddha at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.
Later, in order to commemorate him, Buddhists called Laba "Enlightenment Festival", and held chanting activities and cooked porridge to worship Buddha every day. This has been a custom for a long time. People drink Laba porridge every day.
There is another saying similar to this. It is said that when Sakyamuni sat under the bodhi tree, he was closing his eyes. Suddenly, people saw colorful rain falling from the sky, and the Buddha suddenly turned red and died. This day is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Therefore, from now on, every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Buddhists cook porridge with five-colored rice grains and some fruits to worship Buddha, which is called "Qibao Wuwei porridge", commonly known as "Laba porridge"; Christians also drink this porridge on this day to express their memory of the Buddha. Under the influence of Buddhism, many people also believe that they can be blessed and drink Laba porridge. With the spread of Buddhism, this custom has become more and more popular among the people.
But this connection between Sakyamuni and Laba porridge is contradictory to historical facts. For example, in ancient books such as Shu Wei's Interpretation of the Old, Ji Shuo Pearl Krabs, it is recorded that Sakyamuni was "on February 15th". Sui Shu Jing Ji Zhi also said that Sakyamuni died on February 15. Sakyamuni is a great man in history. Historical figures, these records should be reliable. Sakyamuni, whose real name is Siddhartha Gautama, was born in Nepal today. He was a contemporary of Confucius in China, and Sakyamuni was regarded as his honorific title. These legends may have a lot to do with the prevalence of Buddhism, people's belief in Buddhism and respect for Sakyamuni.
Laba Festival and Zhu Yuanzhang
In the Ming Dynasty, the value of Laba porridge rose by a hundredfold and became a precious food of the imperial court. Every Laba Festival, the emperor gave it as a seasonal food to princes and ministers. As for ordinary people, they pay more attention to drinking Laba porridge. According to folklore, Zhu Yuanzhang was responsible for the increase in the value of Laba porridge in the Ming Dynasty. According to legend, Zhu Yuanzhang was born in poverty when he was young and had to herd cattle for the servants of the rich man. Zhu Yuanzhang is not a filial man, and his sense of responsibility for herding cattle is not strong. He ran around and broke his leg. Seeing him so naughty, the rich man was heartbroken. In a rage, Zhu Yuanzhang was locked up and refused to give him food. Zhu Yuanzhang was so hungry that he tried his best to find food. Suddenly, he saw a mouse running out of the hole. He had a brainwave: "There must be food in the mouse hole!" " So, dig a mouse hole. As he expected, the rat hole. Sure enough, there are many things to eat in the restaurant, including rice, beans, millet, pearl rice, taro and red dates. Although there are not many things, they add up to considerable. Zhu Yuanzhang cooked all these foods in a pot of porridge if he got the treasure. } Zhu Yuanzhang has not eaten for several days. At this time, he only felt that the porridge was fragrant and tasted sweeter.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor. One day, he suddenly remembered the pot of mouse porridge he ate when he was "confined" by the rich man. Suddenly, his mouth was full of incense. He asked the eunuch to find everything he could remember and the chef to cook a pot of porridge. As soon as he ate it, it was really delicious and very happy. What the emperor eats must have a good name, not "rat food". It is said that this day happens to be Laba, so Zhu Yuanzhang named this miscellaneous porridge "Laba porridge". And as a treasure, give it to princes and ministers to eat. Since then, ministers of civil and military affairs have imitated eating methods, and people have followed suit. The more they eat, the wider they become, the more experienced they become, and the more ways they cook, the more delicious they are.