Laba Porridge was written by Shen Congwen, Bing Xin, Lao She, Liang Shiqiu and Wang Meng.
1. In this fragrant twelfth lunar month, it is a unique experience to enjoy a bowl of hot Laba porridge and read the "Laba Masterpieces" written by the author. Shen Congwen described the scene of children drinking Laba porridge in the article "Laba porridge": "The children who are just learning to call daddy, the older children who can go out and call rickshaws, the old children with many white beards on their mouths, when it comes to Laba porridge, who doesn't like it? There is a sweet and greasy feeling in your mouth immediately. Put millet, rice beans, dates, chestnuts, sugar, and peanut kernels together and boil them into a pot, and let it boil in the pot like a sigh. , Just looking at the sigh and smelling the fragrance is enough to swallow more than three mouthfuls of saliva, not to mention that the chestnuts in the pot will be filled with big spoons into the mouth. It's so pulpy that you can't even recognize it. The peanut kernels must be three or four times bigger when eaten - it would be great if there was too much sugar. Crispy rice".
2. Bing Xin’s prose "Laba Porridge" expresses her nostalgia for her mother in clear and beautiful words: "From the time I can remember, I remember the 12th day of the lunar calendar every year. On the eighth day of the lunar month, my mother cooks Laba porridge for everyone. This Laba porridge is made with glutinous rice, brown sugar and eighteen kinds of dried fruits. The largest ones include red dates, longans, walnuts, ginkgo, almonds, chestnuts, peanuts, raisins and so on. , the small ones include various beans and sesame seeds, which taste very sweet and delicious. Every year, my mother cooks a big pot. Not only the whole family eats it, but the large amount is also given to neighbors, relatives and friends. My mother said: 'This. Laba porridge was originally cooked in Buddhist temples as an offering to the Buddha. The eighteen kinds of dried fruits symbolized the eighteen Arhats. Later, this custom became popular among the people, because it was also a good way to save money by cleaning out the cupboards and cooking the leftover fruits for the children. way".
3. Lao She wrote in the article "Spring Festival in Beijing": "According to the old rules in Beijing, the Lunar New Year begins almost in the early ten days of the twelfth lunar month. The seventh and eighth lunar months are so cold that people freeze to death. Crow, this is the coldest time of the year. However, it is winter and spring will soon come, so people do not reduce their enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year and welcoming the Spring Festival. On Laba Day, people cook Laba porridge in their homes and temples. This kind of special porridge is used to worship ancestors and gods, but if you think about it carefully, it is a sign of pride in an agricultural society. This kind of porridge is made from all kinds of rice, all kinds of beans, and all kinds of dried fruits. - Made of almonds, walnut kernels, melon seeds, lychee meat, lotus seeds, peanuts, raisins, water chestnuts, etc. This is not porridge, but a small agricultural exhibition."
4. In Liang Shiqiu's writing, it is Praying for reunion. Liang Shiqiu wrote in "Porridge" that drinking Laba porridge was a big deal when he was a child. Just after midnight, my second uncle (my father's second uncle) started working and moved out two polished copper pots, large and small. The big one was about a foot high and about a foot in diameter. Then add the pre-soaked whole grains such as millet, red beans, old chicken heads, barley rice, and porridge fruits such as ginkgo, chestnuts, red dates, longan, etc., and start to cook, stirring constantly with a long-handled spoon. Anti-stick bottom. The contents of the two pots are different, the larger one is rougher and the smaller one is more delicate, depending on the amount of porridge and fruit. In addition, there is a separate plate of extra delicate porridge fruits, such as melon seeds, almonds, raisins, red and green silk threads, pine nuts, candied fruits, etc., which are prepared to be temporarily placed on the porridge surface. In the morning of Laba, each person will have a big bowl, add as much brown sugar as possible, and drink it happily. Every family cooks porridge, and every family sends porridge to relatives and friends. A bowl comes here and a bowl goes here and there. It is really unnecessary. The remaining porridge is poured into a large green glazed tile basin and allowed to freeze naturally, so that it will not go bad until the end of the year. Since the Mang Dynasty, every year during the Laba Festival, there is porridge to drink every year, but the interest has not diminished, and the materials are hard to find, so I make do with the simplicity, which is just a false story.
5. Wang Meng wrote in "I Love to Drink Porridge": Every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, "Laba porridge" is commonly cooked in northern rural areas. I secretly think that it is the king of porridges and the culmination of porridges. who. As the proverb goes: "Whose chimney smokes first, whose grain piles up into peaks." Therefore, on the day of Laba, every family cooks Laba porridge at midnight. Laba porridge is eclectic and welcomes all comers, including rice, millet, glutinous rice, black rice, black rice, purple rice, millet rice (also known as yellow rice, which resembles millet but has slightly larger grains and is sticky), chicken head rice, barley rice, high-grain rice, red beans, kidney beans, mung beans, Jiangdouhua. Raw beans, chestnuts, walnut kernels, jujubes, jujubes, raisins, melons and fruits, preserved apricots, lotus seeds, and others are all melted into one pot. When they are cooked, the warm fragrance fills the room. When you enter the mouth, all the dried fruits and food from all over the world are poured in. My porridge, all things are prepared for my pleasure. Drinking it is comfortable, smooth and full. It can really inspire a little love for agriculture and thinking about agriculture.
6. The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the Chinese lunar calendar is the day when Sakyamuni Buddha became enlightened. Buddhist temples cook porridge for the Buddha, called "Laba porridge". Before Sakyamuni Buddha became enlightened, he practiced hard in the ascetic forest beside the Niranjan River for 6 years. He was so hungry that he was as thin as firewood and on the verge of death. At this time, Sakyamuni Buddha met a shepherd girl and gave him milk (milk and rice). After eating, I regained my strength. After thinking about it, I decided to give up the useless asceticism. Sakyamuni continued to meditate quietly, exploring all things in the world, the laws of all phenomena in the universe, and the path to liberation in life. Finally, Sakyamuni attained enlightenment and became a Buddha under the Bodhi tree in the early morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month at the age of thirty-five. On the day of enlightenment, Chinese Buddhists chant sutras and imitate the story of the shepherd girl offering milk. They take rice and fruits and cook porridge for the Buddha, which is named "Laba porridge". Later, eating "Laba porridge" evolved into a Chinese folk custom.
"Laba porridge" has a history of more than a thousand years in China and was very popular in the Qing Dynasty. The ingredients of "Laba porridge" are very particular. The porridge ingredients are: two yellow rice (millet, yellow rice); two white rice (rice, glutinous rice); two beans (red adzuki beans; mung beans); two nuts (walnut kernels, almonds); Two dried fruits (jujubes, raisins); plus water chestnut rice, chestnut rice, peanuts, hazelnut kernels, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar, lacto mushrooms (milk, shiitake mushrooms), etc., boiled in water. The "Laba porridge" cooked by experts is not only delicious, but also beautiful. Therefore, "Laba porridge" is also called "Seven Treasures Porridge", which is likened to a mixture of the seven treasures of Buddhism (gold, silver, colored glaze, amber, agate, coral, and pearls). It is very delicious. image.