Legends about Laba Festival

The most important festival in the twelfth lunar month is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which was called "La Day" in ancient times. Since the pre-Qin period, Laba Festival has been used to worship ancestors and gods, praying for a good harvest and good luck. In addition to worshiping ancestors and gods, people also have to drive away the plague. This activity originated from the ancient Nuo (an ancient ritual to drive away ghosts and avoid plague). One of the medical methods in prehistoric times was to drive away ghosts and cure diseases. The custom of beating drums to drive away plague in the twelfth lunar month as a witchcraft activity still exists in Xinhua, Hunan and other areas. It is said that the day of enlightenment of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, was also on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, so Laba is also a festival for Buddhists, also known as the "Buddha Enlightenment Festival."

Legends about Laba Festival During Laba Festival, it is popular among the people to drink Laba porridge. There are many stories circulating among the people about the origin of eating Laba porridge.

One said,

Laba porridge was introduced from India. The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was the son of King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu in northern ancient India (in Nepal today). He saw that all living beings were suffering from birth, old age, sickness and death, and was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of the Brahmans at that time, so he gave up the throne and became a monk. He had no harvest at first, but after six years of asceticism, he became enlightened and became a Buddha under the Bodhi tree on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. During these six years of asceticism, he only ate one grain of hemp and one grain of rice every day. Later generations did not forget his suffering, and ate porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year to commemorate him. "Laba" became the "Buddha's Enlightenment Day". "Laba" is a grand festival of Buddhism. Before liberation, Buddhist temples in various places held Buddha bathing meetings and chanting sutras. They also imitated the legend of the shepherdess offering gruel before Sakyamuni became enlightened, and cooked porridge with fragrant grains and fruits to offer to the Buddha, which was called "Laba porridge". Laba porridge was given to disciples and good men and women, and later it became a custom among the people. It is said that before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, monks in some temples would hold bowls and beg for alms along the streets. They would cook the collected rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials into Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. It is said that after eating it, one can get the blessing of Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge". Lu You of the Southern Song Dynasty wrote in his poem: "Today, Buddha porridge is given to each other, and the festival food in the river village is new." It is said that there is a "rice storage building" for storing leftovers in the famous Tianning Temple in Hangzhou. Usually, the monks in the temple dry the leftovers every day, accumulate a year's surplus food, and cook it into Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to distribute to believers. It is called "Fu Shou porridge". "Fu Shou porridge" means that after eating it, one can increase blessings and longevity. It can be seen that the monks in various temples at that time cherished the virtue of food.

One said,

Laba Festival comes from the custom of "beating ghosts with red beans". Legend has it that Zhuanxu, one of the five ancient emperors, had three sons who turned into evil ghosts after their death and came out to scare children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and feared ghosts and gods. They believed that adults and children who had strokes, illnesses, and poor health were all caused by plague ghosts. These evil ghosts are not afraid of anything in the sky or on the ground, but they are afraid of red beans, so there is a saying that "beating ghosts with red beans". Therefore, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, people cook porridge with red beans and red beans to get rid of plague and welcome good luck.

One said,

When Qin Shi Huang was building the Great Wall, migrant workers from all over the world came here on orders. They could not go home for many years and had to rely on their families to send them food. Some migrant workers were separated from their families by thousands of miles and could not get food, which led to many migrant workers starving to death at the Great Wall construction site. One year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the migrant workers who had no food to eat gathered together a handful of grains and put them in a pot to cook into porridge. Each person drank a bowl, but they still starved to death at the foot of the Great Wall. In order to mourn the migrant workers who starved to death at the Great Wall construction site, people eat "Laba porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year to commemorate them.

One said,

In the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a very lazy young man who was idle and spent all his money. His newlywed wife tried to persuade him but to no avail. However, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month at the end of the year, there was no food at home. The young man was starving and searched the rice jar, flour bag and jars in the house. He washed the remaining grains and flour together with the edible debris, put them into the pot, and cooked a bowl of porridge. From then on, he regretted and made up his mind to change his past. The local people used this to educate their children. Every Laba Festival, they would cook porridge to drink, which not only meant that they would not forget the virtues of their ancestors' diligence and thriftiness, but also hoped that the gods would bring a good year with plenty of food and clothing.

One said,

Laba Festival originated from people's remembrance of Yue Fei, a loyal minister. In the past, Yue Fei led his troops to fight against the Jin army in Zhuxian Town. It was the coldest time of the year. Yue's army was poorly fed and froze. The people sent them porridge. Yue's army had a full meal of "Thousands of Porridge" sent by the people, and finally won a great victory. This day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. After Yue Fei's death, in order to commemorate him, people cooked porridge with grains, beans and fruits every eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and it eventually became a custom.

Another theory is that Laba Festival originated in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was in prison, it was cold and hungry. He dug out some red beans, rice, red dates and other seven or eight kinds of grains from the rat hole in the prison. Zhu Yuanzhang boiled these things into porridge. Because that day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang named this pot of grain porridge Laba porridge. He enjoyed a delicious meal. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang pacified the world and became the emperor. In order to commemorate that special day in prison, he designated that day as Laba Festival and officially named the grain porridge he ate that day Laba porridge.

Another theory

It is to teach the younger generation to be frugal and manage the household. There was a farmer's family in the past, with an old couple taking care of a son. The old man was a diligent man, who spent all day in the fields, leaving early and returning late, cultivating the fields carefully, and the few acres of farmland he cultivated produced a good harvest every year. His wife was a frugal person, who built a melon shed in the yard to cover the sky, spread the garden vegetables, and carefully calculated three meals a day. Although the family was not rich, they had no worries about food and clothing all year round. The old couple were not only diligent and frugal, but also kind-hearted. When they met someone who was short of money, they often gave some rice to help them through the difficulties.

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, their son is already seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he is tall and strong, he is not like his parents. He is very lazy. This is because he was spoiled since he was a child. When he grew up, he still eats and sleeps, wanders around, and does nothing.

One day, the old man touched his gray beard and felt that he was getting old. He said to his son, "Your parents can only raise you when you are young, but not when you are old. You have to sweat to eat. You should learn how to grow crops to make a living in the future." The son hummed twice, but the words went in one ear and out the other, and he continued to stroll around, eat and sleep as usual.

Soon, the old couple married their son. They thought that their son would get married and the young couple would think about how to work and make a living. But they didn't know that the daughter-in-law was just like their son, lazy and gluttonous. She would not pick up grass, sleep until the sun went down, get up at three o'clock in the morning, never sew, never go into the kitchen, and would not help when the oil bottle fell.

One day, the old man was combing his white hair. Knowing that he was buried up to his neck in the dirt, he told his daughter-in-law everything in his heart: "Diligence is a money tree, and thrift is a treasure pot. If you want to live a good life, diligence and thrift are treasures." The daughter-in-law ignored his words and did not take them to heart.

A few years later, the old couple fell seriously ill and were bedridden. They called the young couple to their bedside and repeatedly told them: "If you want to live a rich life, get out of bed when the rooster crows three times. Men should work hard in the fields, and women should weave more..." Before they could finish their words, the old couple died together.

The young couple asked the villagers to bury the two old people, and looked at the rice in the granary, the cotton in the cabinet, and the clothes in the box. The man said, "We have food and drink, so why should we go out to the fields in the sun?" The woman said, "We have single clothes in summer and cotton in winter, so why should weave until the sun is setting?" The young couple sang the same tune and had long forgotten the wills of the two old people.

Year after year passed, and the few acres of land became a wasteland. The family's firewood, rice, oil, salt, clothes, bedding, shoes and socks became less and less. The young couple was not in a hurry. As long as there was something to eat, they were too lazy to do anything. Flowers bloomed and fell, and autumn turned to winter. The fields had no harvest, and the family had run out of food and clothes. The young couple had no food, and the neighbors gave them a piece of steamed bread and a bowl of soup for the sake of the deceased old man. The young couple still thought: "Begging for food can also pass the time."

Entering the twelfth lunar month, the weather was getting colder and colder. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the weather was freezing cold and the water turned into ice. As the saying goes, "On the seventh and eighth days of the twelfth lunar month, beggars will freeze to death." The young couple had no fire in the house, thin clothes on their bodies, and no food in their stomachs. They curled up on the cold kang mat to "sift bran." But four eyes were still searching the whole house. Suddenly, they found a few grains of rice and beans in the cracks of the kang, so they picked them out one by one with their hands; they also found rice grains in the cracks of the ground, and dug them out. This was a life-saving straw, so they picked up a handful and put it in the pot. They stuffed the straw on the kang into the stove, and cooked a pot of porridge. There were millet, corn, soybeans, red beans, sorghum, dried vegetable leaves... Everything that could fill the stomach was put in. After it was cooked, each of them had a bowl and ate it sadly. At this time, the two remembered the teachings of the two old people and regretted not listening to them earlier. Now it was too late.

Just as the young couple was feeling sad, a strong wind blew. As the house had been in disrepair for a long time, it was already in a dilapidated state. The wind blew and the house collapsed with a "whoosh", and the young couple was crushed underneath. When the neighbors came to dig them out, they were already dead, with half a bowl of mixed bean porridge beside them. From then on, every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the villagers would cook a pot of mixed rice porridge for their children to eat, and tell their children the story of this mixed rice porridge to educate them. In this way, one person spread ten, ten spread a hundred, and the story spread farther and farther; from father to son, from son to grandson, and from generation to generation. It has been passed down to modern times. The custom of eating "mixed rice porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month has been formed. Because this porridge is eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it is called "Laba porridge".