According to legend, Sakyamuni has been practicing hard in order to become a monk, but he has been practicing hard for many years and has never succeeded, so he plans to find another way to practice Buddhism. Just when Sakyamuni decided to give up asceticism, a shepherd girl presented him with chyle (porridge boiled with milk or ghee). After eating chyle, he meditated under the bodhi tree, and the result was successful. Sakyamuni became a monk on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
Since then, whenever the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month comes, Buddhists will not only hold a ritual ceremony, but also cook rice and fruit into porridge and offer it to the Buddha to commemorate that Sakyamuni became a Taoist by eating chyle. After Buddhism was introduced into China, the custom of offering porridge to Buddha on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month also spread. China has had the custom of calling the last month of the lunar calendar since the pre-Qin period, so the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month gradually appeared through the mouth of the ancient people in China? Laba Festival? This name, and the porridge you drank this day? Laba porridge? .
About what? Laba porridge? This title first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty document Meng Lianglu. According to this ancient book? Dasha and other temples have five kinds of porridge called Laba porridge. ? According to this record, it is very common to drink Laba porridge on Laba Festival in Song Dynasty. Because the ancients thought that drinking Laba porridge on this day could be blessed by the Buddha, so Laba porridge was also called? Fushou porridge? Or? Buddha porridge? .
Later, with the development of Buddhism, Laba Festival, which was originally just a Buddhist festival, became more and more popular and evolved into a national festival over time. At the same time, the custom of drinking Laba porridge is becoming more and more popular. Today, Laba porridge is still the most representative food of Laba Festival.